At the Hospital [Utsuro]

[Tensei Kaori]

"Right," Ayaka confirmed, smiling warmly and giving their joined hands a gentle squeeze. "A promise." She was just thinking about what to say or do next when a warm, friendly voice spoke from behind her.

"Oh? Am I interrupting something?"

[strangevisitor]

"N-no, not at all.." Utsuro replied to the voice after a slight start, the warm smile falling from his face as he turned to see who was there. Logic dictated that it was most likely a nurse, but one could never be too certain after all.

[Tensei Kaori]

Ayaka was both relieved and disappointed when the nurse came into the room: relieved because here was someone who could get her friend what he needed, and because she broke the silence, but disappointed because whatever that nice feeling had been just now, whatever had made it different melted away as soon as a third person entered the room. She kept her hands where they were, though.

"I'm just checking in," the nurse explained kindly. "How are you feeling, Tsutomegi-kun? Do you need anything?"

[strangevisitor]

"Ah...nurse-san. O-okay...I guess..not bad...everything is still...a little fuzzy, I suppose." He doubted that made any sort of sense, but Utsuro was not exactly in a good situation to be giving any sort of decent report on his own condition. He was in one piece, and not missing anything as far as he could tell. That was good in his book.

"Ah..Hokage-dono said I should...try to eat...before I sleep tonight...so...if it is not too much trouble....some food would be appreciated."

[Tensei Kaori]

The nurse reassured Tsutomegi that it was no trouble at all, that they would take care of anything he needed, that someone would bring him something in just a few minutes, and then the two of them were alone in the hospital room again. Ayaka wanted to stay with her friend, but if he needed to rest....

"Ah... I'm not... in the way or anything, am I?" she asked hesitantly. "I mean, you have to talk to the nurses and have dinner and sleep and stuff.... and I'm just kinda sitting here..."

[strangevisitor]

Shaking his head in a manner that could almost be interpreted as 'furiously', Utsuro's grip tightened slightly around her hands. "I am otherwise alone, in a place I hate, in a very weakened state..

"..if...not for your presence here...I think the staff would have a far more...fiesty...patient in their care.."

[Tensei Kaori]

"Hmm... I guess that's true. He does like to come out when you feel bad."

Ayaka was silent for a moment - thinking, considering - and then finally nodded to herself as though reaching a conclusion.

"Well, I don't think they'll let me stay all night," she offered, "but if I stay until you go to sleep, you won't have to worry about Ichi-san coming out tonight, right? And in the morning you'll be stronger since you'll be more rested. I think. But I'll come see you before I go to the cafe, just in case."

[strangevisitor]

Watching her expression....a rare event for Utsuro in and of itself...he wondered what she was thinking of so deeply. When he finally was informed to which she had been brooding over, it was hard at first to even think, much less reply. The malady was short-lived, however, as her own words echoed back to him, halting the stumbling over his.

"You're not alone either, Tsutomegi. Because I'll be here with you, too."

"I...Thank you, Ayaka-san. It...really means...so much to me." He couldn't bring himself to object. Or to worry if he was imposing. His friend had made up her mind. She wanted to stay by his side.

And he wanted her to stay there too.

[Tensei Kaori]

"Then I'll stay," Ayaka repeated with a smile and a nod, and stay she did.

She did, of course, have to let go of his hands and move back to the chair she had occupied earlier when a nurse came in with a tray of food, but she didn't even think of leaving from that spot. She had a friend - a real friend - and he needed her. And so Ameno Ayaka tucked her legs up onto the chair, rested her arms and head on her knees, and waited quietly until she was either spoken to or could move back to that friend's side.

[strangevisitor]

Thanking the nurse profusely, Utsuro picked at this and that from the tray. He did not have much of an appetite, but it was far more appealing than the..

No. Not going to think about it.

Every little bit, though, he would glance over to the chair where she sat so patiently. His friend. It still felt like such an alien concept to him, but there she was. And it made him smile, soft but sincere.

He could not let her sit in such silence, though. He was barely eating, after all, and so he did something rather peculiar, and began to tell her a story. They had promised to reach for the stars together, and so he told her a tale of three stars in particular, and how they came to be.

"And so...every summer, in homage to their journey and dedication to each other, the Summer Triangle appears; The humble cow-herder Altair, his love, the fairy queen Vega, and the fairy guide who always brings them together, Deneb."

[Tensei Kaori]

Ayaka listened intently to Tsutomegi's story, at first seeming relaxed but focused, but slowly looking more and more amazed as the story wore on.

"Is... is that true!?" she gasped, her eyes wide and shining as she leaned so far toward her friend she was almost coming out of her chair. "Is that really true!?"

[strangevisitor]

"I believe so, though not many do. It was...a very long time ago, after all." Utsuro replied, nodding softly.

"Otousan would always tell this story to us in the summertime, and that when it is for the sake of someone you love, anything becomes possible.." He continued with a melancholy smile upon his face, eyes growing a little more distant than usual.

"He and Okaasan met at the Tanabata festival of her village in the Wind Country, you see... He was on mission there, to assist in the capture of a very powerful missing-nin....ah...that is, a ninja who has turned traitorous to their home village. She was waiting for the festivities to start, and Otousan said that the setting sun set her hair ablaze in such a fashion that he all but forgot the mission....until that whom he sought attempted to use her as a hostage to escape.

"Okaasan was moved by his bravery and strength in protecting her, and he returned many times to see her, mission or no... Finally, one year later at the very same Tanabata Festival, she waited for him to appear. As the sun sank and she stood upon that bridge where they had first met, Otousan came to her as the last rays of light danced off her hair, and he asked of her to return to Tengakure with him.. as his wife."

[Tensei Kaori]

Ayaka was so moved by that story that for a long moment all she could do was stare, her entire face shining, at the friend who had told it to her. Did things like that really happen...? Well, of course they happened, or Tsutomegi wouldn't be here. But coming from a village where marriages were, more often than not, because of a man's ability to provide for his family or a woman's potential to be a good mother, not even taking into the account the circumstances under which her own parents had met, such a story of deep, pure, undying love was almost entirely unreal to her. It made Tsutomegi's parents seem almost like the hero and heroine out of a story rather than real people.

"That.... is that..." Ayaka began, stammering over her own words until she finally managed to get her tongue under control again. "That is... one of the most amazing things I've ever heard," she breathed, as though speaking normally would dispel the amazement that was washing over her. "I've never heard of anything like that before. It's so... beautiful..."

[strangevisitor]

Utsuro nodded, rubbing his face with a sleeve....they were rather soft, really. Why did his face have to feel so wet, though? It was terribly distracting.

"It was such an important day to them...they made sure to be married on the next Tanabata as well..And every year after, as part of my village's festival, Otousan would dress like the cowherder, and Okaasan would put on her finest yukata and wait for him at the highest peak in the village."

He scrubbed at his face again, despite the smile on his lips. "And he would bring her back down, and that was the signal for the festivities to begin...And..." His voice caught in his throat for a moment, cracking softly.

"And when Onii-san was old enough, he would play the part of Deneb, and made a great game of leading Otousan all around the village to find Okaasan. And then when I was...we would take turns..

"This year.....this....it would be nii-chan's turn, I think...he would have been old enough by now...Otousan would have had... a terrible time keeping up with him, though....he was...always running..everywhere..

"I did not forget.." Fingers curled tightly in the sheets of the bed. "I will.. never forget..."

[Tensei Kaori]

"I know you won't," Ayaka murmured into Tsutomegi's shoulder. She didn't know how she had gotten over there so quickly, but the rolling table with the tray on it had been pushed out of the way and she was back on the mattress, hugging her dear friend as tightly as she could manage.

"I know you won't. And now, neither will I. No one will forget them. Ever. We'll always remember. You don't have to carry this alone anymore, Tsutomegi."

* * * * *

As promised, Ayaka stayed by her friend's side until he went to sleep. Even then, though, despite her own need to get home and rest, she found herself reluctant to leave. What if he woke up in an unfamiliar face and freaked out? What if his own fear and dislike of hospitals took control of him when she wasn't around to help him, and he woke up still too week to suppress Ichi-san? And what if Ichi-san got bored?

Ayaka lingered for a few minutes, trying to think of something to do, when an idea hit her. As quietly as she could she slipped out of the room, asked for a couple items at the nurses' station, and returned to the chair near Tsutomegi's bed. First was to cut out a strip of paper....

... and a few minutes later, Ayaka was holding a puffy, yellow origami star about an inch and a half across in her hand. It was far larger than these were usually made, but she was afraid a smaller one would get smashed or lost. Once she was sure she wanted to do this, Ayaka crept to Tsutomegi's bedside and slipped the token into her sleeping friend's hand and gently curled his fingers around it, just so it wouldn't fall. With the leftover paper she folded a little card, drew a bunch of stars on the outside, and left a very simple message inside:

Don't forget our promise.
-Ayaka

With one last smile for Tsutomegi, she balanced the little card on the rolling table his dinner had been on earlier and slipped out of the room. It was late, and she had to be up early tomorrow.