A and K Chapter 53: Lexi, Pt. 2

Kokoa and Shigure take a break from healing Kei.
Kokoa: You’re doing very well, Shigure.
Shigure: You flatter me, all I’ve really been doing is the grunt work.
Kokoa: Not true, it seems you do have the power of healing within you, it just hasn’t been let out yet.
Shigure: Let out?
Kokoa: You were once touched by the pink azure, correct?
Shigure nods.
Kokoa: Well, I assume when that happened, it loosened your own power. You just hadn’t been able to channel it yet.
Shigure: But I want to. I want to heal Kei with every fiber of my being.
Kokoa: Then that power will unlock on its own, when it is ready.
Shigure nods.
Shigure: Mrs. Kokoa, could you please tell me the story about when Kei and Lexi got engaged.
Kokoa: (feigning happiness) Oh that old thing? Why would you-?
Kokoa takes note that Shigure was being serious. She sighs.
Kokoa: Yes, I can, but it hurts my heart, as I’m sure it does a lot of people.
Shigure: I know.
Kokoa: When Kei brought Lexi home and told us the news, we were all ecstatic. My husband and I couldn’t believe our ears. The first one of our kids to get married. All of daughters were happy about being involved, and I’m sure you remembered getting an invite to all of that as well.
Shigure nods.
Kokoa: The light I would see in those eyes of Kei’s. It was wonderful. Each step they took to prepare for the wedding, it was fun to be involved. I helped Yui pick her wedding dress out.
Shigure: What about Lexi’s parents?
Kokoa: (sighing) Lexi supported herself.
Shigure: Huh?
Kokoa: Behind that happy demeanor, Lexi was working hard to support herself. She paid for her own schooling, from the orphanage she lived in.
Shigure: She never said anything about an orphanage.
Kokoa: Probably because she didn’t want anyone to know, not even Kei. She hid it from everyone. She grew up there alone. When she became friends with Kei and you, it was like the light had returned to her eyes. We saw her all the time at our house, alongside you and Kei. She was happy whenever she was with the two of you. It was her escape from that place. However, no matter how many times you and Lexi stayed over, the two of you were both so happy with Kei.
Shigure: I remember.
Kokoa: All the same, I helped Lexi pick out a wedding dress, and I was surprised she had planned to take to the orphanage with her. I promised her I’d hold on to it for her. I was saddened to hear that she would never wear that dress.
Shigure: The illness.
Kokoa: Indeed. The illness took a violent hold of her.
Shigure: I remember Kei being by her side, the whole time.
Kokoa: He was. Up to the moment she passed.
Shigure: That must have been tough.
Kokoa: It was. He almost followed her into that spiral of death.
Shigure: That’s right…
Kokoa: From his time not eating, or drinking, at all. He cared too much of Lexi’s health to care about his own, which caused him to become sick himself. Dai and I cared for him. We tried to ease his heartache. But easing a person’s heartache, can be difficult. No matter who it is.
Shigure silently nods.
Kokoa: He fell into a downward spiral. Trapped in his own depression over Lexi. I was heartbroken. As I’m sure the rest of you were.
Shigure nods once again.
Kokoa: The funeral was so sad. Kei was there, but his mind, his spirit, and his heart were gone. Only in physical form, was he there. And long after everyone had left, he sat there at her tombstone. As if he was expecting Lexi to pop out and say, ‘Gotcha’, but nothing happened. Dai and I had to guide him home when it was clear he wouldn’t leave Lexi. It might have well been his heart buried there.
Shigure: But he eventually gained the courage to go out on his own again.
Kokoa: Yes, he eventually returned to the home that Lexi and him bought for themselves. When Lexi passed, the landlord simply gave him the house. It wasn’t a rich house. It was a simple house not too far away, where the two could live, love, and eventually have a family.
Shigure: But now...its just a reminder of his loneliness.
Kokoa: That was all that could happen. For the time after Lexi’s death, all he would say when he would come to the house is, ‘I’m home, Lexi.’ as if he were expecting a response. But no response would ever come.
Shigure: That must have been tough.
Kokoa: Its why I’m glad so many people have come into Kei’s life. He needs this adventure for his own sake.
Shigure stands up.
Shigure: Well, if we don’t heal him, he won’t ever get that chance.
Kokoa: (standing up) Very true. We have to make sure Kei’s wounds are clean and he’ll be okay.
As Shigure puts her entire focus into trying to heal Kei, her hands suddenly start to glow.
Shigure: Huh?!
Kokoa: Well, look at that, looks like this mystic water was just what you needed to get that old kick-start to your healing powers.
She takes note that her glow is completely surrounding Kei.
Shigure: I-I can...heal him...with my own two hands?
Shigure seemed enthusiastic with her newfound power. The three of them, Mai, Yuka, and Rie, get closer and closer to the supposed ‘hide-out’ of the two had attempted to kill Kei. They could hear talking in the cave.
Mai: Stay here, Rie.
Rie nods quietly. Mai and Yuka go into the cave, their heads held high.
Mai: HEY!
The two men perk up and look at the people that had just entered their cave. The one on the left wore a fedora. His white-button down shirt was badly stained. His blue jeans were tucked into his cowboy boots. The one on the right had short black hair. He wore a black button down shirt, with tan khakis. He wore regular tennis shoes. By each of their sides, was a sword.
Mai: You two have a lot of nerve trying to kill my brother.
The man on the left stands up.
Takumi: Sorry, girls, but ‘The Branch’ had a contract with him.
The man on the right follows suit.
Sadao: Our boss, number twelve, doesn’t like when we leave things half-done.
Yuka pulls the shotgun version of Gungnir off her back
Yuka: Tell your “boss” that we have a message for him then. (racks the pump on the shotgun, the sound echoing through the cave) If you survive that is.
Mai pulls her own pistol out.
Mai: You should listen to my partner, we’re both in a very foul mood since my brother is on life support.
Takumi: Life-support? So he’s not dead?
Sadao: Boss will kill us if he finds out we failed to kill Kei.
They both draw their swords.
Takumi: I don’t think the boss will mind if we skin two girls alive.
Mai: (growls) Try it.
Mai and Takumi charge at each other, while Yuka and Sadao do the same. Mai shoots off a few rounds at Takumi. He cuts through them like hot butter.
Mai: Sorry to disappoint you.
Takumi looks confused. The bullets explode at the feet of Takumi. The shockwave throwing him against the wall.
Takumi: Annoying brat.
Meanwhile, Sadao deals with Yuka. He charges with his sword in hand. Yuka fires her shotgun multiple times at Sadao as he charges her.
Yuka: Didn’t anyone tell you that charging a SHOTGUN was a great way to get yourself killed?
Sadao tries to dodge, as he hadn’t expected someone to have such technology at their fingertips. Despite Sadao’s attempts, the cuts he sustains from the bullets Yuka’s fire are still moderately painful.
Sadao: Why do we get all the tough jobs, Takumi?
Takumi: Because boss never did like us.
Sadao: We gotta get out of here before number twelve gets us!
Takumi: He isn’t the worst of our problems, you idiot!
Mai: No kidding you bloated beanbags! You’ll be lucky if you escape with your lives!
Mai shoots off a few more shots at Takumi and despite his sword deflecting the bullets. Its no good. One of Mai’s bullets get into his arm.
Takumi screams out in pain. Sadao, not wanting to die, retreats out of the cave. Mai keeps the gun on Takumi.
Mai: Move and you’re dead.
Yuka goes after Sadao. When Yuka goes out of the cave, she’s stuck between a rock and a hard place, as she sees Rie has been taken hostage. Sadao had placed the sword against Rie’s neck.
Sadao: You wouldn’t dare shoot me when I have a hostage.
Yuka tosses her shotgun away and takes her other forms of Gungnir off her back and tosses them to the sides.
Yuka: Fine I wont shoot you (puts her hands off to the sides in surrender) Let her go she has nothing to do with this.
Sadao: Oh, but she has everything to do with this
Category:A and K
Category:Novel Chapter