Rurouni Kenshin Fan Fiction / Sailor Moon Fan Fiction / Azumanga Daioh Fan Fiction ❯ Love Reincarnate ❯ My Immortal ( Chapter 9 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
Love Reincarnate
A Rurouni Kenshin Alternate Universe Fic
By: Serenity-chan

Chapter 9:
My Immortal

It was almost noon the next day when screams rang out in the dorm. No one had seen Midori and they were all getting worried. Even Nanaka had no clue where her best friend was. Tomo, who still had a headache, was no help at all. Yomi, who had managed to sleep it all off, was getting worried too. Sakaki was staying with Osaka, who was still sleeping it off.

"Excuse me, do any of you know where I can find Midori Saginuma?" asked an unfamiliar voice from behind Nanaka.

"Huh?" she asked brilliantly.

"Midori Saginuma. Do you know where she is?" he asked again.

Nanaka turned and saw the same young man who had been holding Midori last night, with a very worried expression on his handsome face.

"Who're you?" asked Nanaka.

"Souzou Sagara," he answered.

"And what do you want with Midori?" asked Nanaka, her voice a little on the hard side.

"We were going to have lunch today," Souzou answered smoothly. "I got worried when she didn't show up."

"You WHAT!?" demanded Nanaka. "Ri-chan had a date and she didn't even TELL ME!?"

Souzou cringed for the sake of his eardrums and winced at the stares of people passing at the disturbance. Nanaka stopped fuming and looked him up and down. Apparently he met the approval of the Best Friend Radar, because Nanaka nodded and smiled.

"Well I actually have no clue where she is," she said finally. "We've been looking for her all day. I haven't seen her since last night."

Nanaka couldn't keep the wry amusement out of her voice and Souzou couldn't help but notice. But he chose to ignore it. He was worried about Midori. From what he had heard around campus, she was some kind of super student who never forgot her work. A lot of people said this was the first time they remembered that she didn't show up for class.

"What happened last night?" asked Souzou, feigning ignorance.

Nanaka's manner suddenly changed. Her face hardened and her eyes darkened as if she was angry all of a sudden. She stared hard at Souzou and demanded to speak to him in private.

"Alright, enough playin' around," she growled. "I saw you with Midori last night. Were you drunk? Is that why you asked what happened last night!?"

Souzou was totally taken aback.

"I---" he started, but Nanaka cut him off.

"If you hurt her, I'll make your life hell," she threatened. "If I find out that you---"

"Hang on!" interrupted Souzou. "I'm worried about her too! And, no, I was NOT drunk last night. I don't drink!"

Nanaka growled rather menacingly.

"I promise, I wouldn't hurt her," Souzou assured her.

"Oh, ok," said Nanaka, dropping her threatening manner. "But---"

She never finished due to Yomi yanking them off the bench and marching them back over to where they had all met up. Sakaki had just showed up, dragging a still-weaving Osaka with her, and it looked like they had run the entire way. Sakaki's face was white, despite having just been running as if her life depended on it.

"I found Midori..." she panted.

"Where!?" demanded Souzou and Nanaka at the same time.

"You'd better come with us," said Yomi, who had gotten Sakaki's cell phone message and was trying to remain calm.
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Midori was still dreaming.

Souzou could only hold her and let her cry. He hated this, seeing the only woman he had ever loved heartbroken because of him once again. But there was nothing he could do. She was no longer his wife. He just had to wait for his present self and hope he made the right decision.

"What you know are old memories that your soul has kept inside," he whispered. "Those are images of us in the past. I loved you then and I love you still."

"Then love me," begged Midori, clutching his shirt.

"You'll have to get used to being without me," he warned her. "If you choose Souzou, I'll have to go back to him."

"I'll never see you again?" asked Midori, her hands still fisted in his shirt.

Souzou smiled, pressing a soft kiss to her forehead.

"You'll see me in him," he assured her. "You'll see me a little more every time you see him."

Midori smiled weakly.

"But the dreams will stop?" she asked.

"What use are dreams when you have the reality of someone who loves you?" Souzou countered. "Just take your time and get to know him."

Midori wrapped her arms around the man she had loved both in past and present, pulling him close to her. She took a deep breath and noticed that the smell of blood and gunpowder was gone and she was once more surrounded by the spicy scent of his skin. Souzou smoothed Midori's hair and smiled down at her.

"There, that's better isn't it?" he said, making it more statement than question. "Just like we used to be..."

"But what about---?" Midori started.

"Reliving a good memory for a night never hurt anybody," whispered Souzou, his voice a gentle breath on her ear.

Midori pulled back from Souzou's chest and looked up at his face. It was smooth and clean once more and he was smiling at her. Something deep inside her remembered that smile, and not just from dreams past. She felt something that told her this had happened before. Were they really reliving one of Midori's memories?
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A fairly sizable crowd was gathered outside Midori's room. Agonized screams and groans were clear on the other side of the door. Most people were standing around staring. Nanaka charged up, elbowing people out of the way and started banging on the door. Souzou noticed Reichi close to the back of the crowd and approached his best friend.

"Reichi, what's going on?" he asked, trying not to sound panicked.

"The girl across the hall from us is making one hell of a lot of noise," the brown-haired young man answered.

"Well what happened!?" demanded Souzou, not in the mood for his friend to play dumb.

"Well, the guess with this crowd is that she's with some guy in there," said Reichi.

"WHAT!?" screeched Nanaka, who had suddenly popped up. "Ri-chan wouldn't do that!"

"Calm down," ordered Souzou in an authoritative voice he never knew he had before turning back to Reichi. "Well then why is everybody standing around?"

"I dunno," answered Reichi. "Outta somethin' ta do?"

"The door's bolted," announced someone from up near the door, their voice high-pitched and girlish.

"Hang on!" said somebody else, this one also high-pitched but a little more mature-sounding for some reason. "I think there's something wrong in there!"

"Huh?" asked the first voice, sounding very clueless. "Whaddya mean?"

"That doesn't sound like anything that feels good," answered a third voice, this one deeper, but still definitely feminine.

"I'm with Mako-chan on this one," said another female voice, this one light and musical. "I can't see anything loving going on in there..."

"Shouldn't we just stay out of this?" asked another girl timidly.

"No way! We're involved now!" said the girl who had announced that the door was bolted.

"Brilliant idea, Meatball Head," snapped the girl who had first suggested that something was wrong.

"That's it, I'm breakin' the door down!" bellowed the deep-voiced girl. "Stand back!"

"Wait, Mako-chan!" called the girl with the timid voice.

Too late.

"HYAA!" roared Mako-chan.

*CRASH*

The door wrent off its hinges and clattered to the floor. Everyone fell silent. Souzou pushed his way through the crowd, nearly knocking over the timid girl with short blue hair. He ran past the tall girl with brown hair who had been called Mako-chan. Two blonde girls crowded in after him with hearts in their eyes. He stopped short, his mouth open and unable to say anything.

"Somebody call an ambulance!" hollered Mako-chan.