Chapter FIVE:

Something Warm

It had been an eventful two days, but at last, it was decided that the disoriented Chikara would stay with Akikawa in his apartment. Akikawa had sneered when the suggestion was made and Chikara asked Sokumi why she couldn't just stay with her, instead. It seemed like the most obvious solution to Chikara, after all; it was clear that the man didn't want her there, and she had always been on good terms with Sokumi.

So Chikara watched rather curiously as Sokumi glanced sheepishly over to Akikawa, whose expression had morphed into something decidedly melancholy. “Well, you know I would,” Sokumi began slowly. “But I’ve already got a roommate.”

It was with these simple words that the argument had been settled, and Chikara found herself wondering what could have been so upsetting about them. Was it something she had said? She continued to watch Akikawa as his usually flat face partook in a series of power struggles, softening and hardening over again. It was as though he couldn’t decide whether he wanted to be grudging or wistful. She wondered if Sokumi’s roommate was an old flame of his.

Akikawa fumbled with the zipper of his jacket as if he had been prompted to take a stroll; but in the few days that Chikara had known him, she couldn't imagine him to be the type of person who followed up on impulses. “I’m going out for a while,” he said abruptly. He stepped outside, but before he left, he turned around to face Chikara. “This is only a temporary arrangement, until you find a job and get a place of your own," he told her. It was all he could to do not to mention sending her back to her own era. "Try not to touch anything.”

Chikara saluted him. “Roger.”

Sokumi giggled and slipped out of her boots, already having climbed into the recliner by the time Akikawa was able to turn his attention to her. He glowered as she slid her hand across the coffee table to pick up an especially delicate remote - another of his modifications.

“And you don’t even live here,” he said. “Put that down before you break it.”

Sokumi made no effort to cease her giggling, and rather than humor Akikawa, she waved the remote tauntingly in front of him. “You’re too serious, Aki,” she said. “When have I broken one of your inventions?” She didn't bother to hide her pleasure when the inventor bristled. Really, he made this too easy.

Akikawa muttered under his breath and sighed as he started down the street, kicking aside slush from the night before as he went along. By the time he had reached the corner, his fingers had already tinged purple from the cold air, and he had to pull his scarf over his nose so that it didn’t run. He pulled a pair of gloves out of his coat pocket and put them on; in the back of his mind, he knew that coming home with a cold was a sure way to get Sokumi after him forever.

.

It seemed to Chikara that the inventor had only just left when Sokumi propelled herself up from the chair and pulled on her boots again, fastening the buttons of her parka as she did so. For a moment, she thought that they were going to follow Akikawa around town before Sokumi picked up her briefcase.

“What are you doing?” asked Chikara, watching her grab a handbag from the table stand.

Sokumi gave Chikara a peculiar look as she adjusted her hat. “I’m going to the hospital,” she said. "Why don't you come with me?"

Chikara was perplexed but began pulling her boots on anyway. She thought briefly about the Organization and the possibility of them spending spies in after her. The idea was preposterous, but not quite as much as the situation she had gotten into already. Just a few days ago, she was jumping off of buildings and tasering Wakiasei's guards. Now, she was contemplating the merits of stalking a grouchy inventor with strange hair and premeditated visits to a hospital with one of the residents. This had to have been the most excitement she'd had since the night she had gotten there.

In any case, Chikara contended herself with asking a single question. "Didn't you say you have today off?"

Sokumi curled her hand around the door-handle, pausing to take a quick inventory of her purse. "I do," she said. "But I'm going there to see someone on my own time." With that, she slipped out, motioning for Chikara to follow her.

.

Akikawa stuck the spare change into the outer fold of his wallet, carelessly leaving the shop’s door to close behind him as he stepped out of the florist’s. He was too preoccupied with shoving the wallet back into his pocket to realize that his feet were wandering astray from the sidewalk. He stumbled off of the curb, landing his foot land in a slushy puddle at the side of the road. The water, biting and cold, seeped into his shoe and he felt his foot go numb.

“Perfect.”

A cold would have been one thing; but if he wound up with frostbite, Sokumi would never let him hear the end of it.

Akikawa continued down the street with a bouquet of yellow roses in tow. With the wind blowing as bitterly as it was, he knew that he would be lucky if any of the flowers were still in tact by the time he reached his destination.

.

Chikara climbed into the bloodred mini-car, taking the passenger’s seat while Sokumi positioned herself in the driver’s side, producing what looked like a credit card from her purse. To Chikara's surprise, she pushed it into a slot under the dashboard.

A soft green light blinked on above the steering wheel, and the gentle vibration of an engine hummed to life beneath the hood. Chikara gave her new friend an incredulous look as they started down the road. “What did you say your salary was, again?” she asked, giving the interior another look-over. Perhaps the people of the past weren't all without means, after all.

Sokumi laughed quietly to herself before setting up the navigator. “Definitely not enough to afford this car.”

Chikara raised a brow before returning her attention to the controls and coming across a particularly large and shiny dial in the center of a panel. With the slightest pressure from her fingernail, a stereo began pumping a popular beat into the speakers. “The radio? Or perhaps you’ve got your own mixer in here, somewhere?” she teased.

With her eyes fixed on the road in front of her, Sokumi beamed. “Aki designed this car himself for Maiko and I; it's one of a kind,” she added, “And it’s hooked up to my mp3 player. Wireless, of course.”

Chikara studied her for a moment. “This car is a rich person's pride, when I come from – it’s adjusted differently, but it’s still the same." She had recognized the car almost immediately after getting in; the exterior was unimpressive to say the least, and it looked nothing like the upscale model of her time.

Sokumi was delighted. “Really? Did Aki get some kind of major deal in the future?”

Chikara shook her head. “I don’t know, actually,” she lied. “I just recognize a lot of his designs as stuff I only saw in my line of work.” How could she have told her that she had made a living stealing his designs? That would have gone well. Chikara still didn't want to believe that Akikawa was her enemy; after all, he only made the inventions she stole - he didn't run the company itself. Nobody had to find this out until she was out on her own.

Meanwhile, Sokumi grinned to herself. “I guess he did, then. He deserves recognition for what he does, you know?” Tackling the task of changing lanes and subjects, she went on, “So what year did you come from, exactly?”

.

Akikawa pushed through the revolving door, stumbling over the entrance as he tucked the bouquet under his arm and went to the front desk to sign in. The receptionist, a well dressed and meticulously shaven man, stared at the trail of muddy snow following the inventor as he headed for the elevator. The slush looked fairly hazardous on the slick walkway.

Akikawa cringed as he heard the receptionist’s voice crackle over the intercom to request a mop. For the past eight months, Akikawa had visited the hospital twice a week, if not more; it wasn’t the first time that he had forgotten to change out of his shoes.

.

As Chikara combed through the glove box, a brown-paper package caught her eye. She nodded to Sokumi, who was just pulling into the hospital’s parking lot. “What’s this?” she asked, prodding the paper with an extended claw.

Sokumi glanced over briefly before responding. “It’s a gift," she said, "for my roommate.”

Bearing this in mind, Chikara eyed the package with even more interest than before. Who could this roomate have been that upset everyone so much?

.

Akikawa stepped cautiously towards the woman sleeping peacefully in her cot near the window. Countless needles penetrated both of her arms, feeding nutrients into her system and sending information into several monitors standing guard at her bedside, all of them beeping steadily.

Taking hold of the wilted bouquet on her table, Akikawa pulled the shriveling daisies out of their diminutive vase and tossed them into a garbage bin before replacing them with the roses. The weather had taken a much lighter toll on them than he had anticipated, but he still found himself brushing off a number of their fleshy, yellow petals from his jacket.

Akikawa turned back to the woman, studying her closely. She had streaked her hair purple, only to have it fade back to black; and she had painted on her nails a rainbow, only to have the lacquer chip and disappear under blood that had dried and caked onto her nail-beds. Her hair, which she had struggled to maintain at an even length for years, had to have been sheared off when she initially entered the facility – though now it was finally inching its way along once more.

The inventor straightened, straining to keep his voice steady. “Hey there, Maiko,” he said quietly. “I brought you some new flowers today.”

.

Appearing genuinely depressed, Sokumi steered the car into her designated parking space. “Eight months ago,” she began, “Aki’s big sister, Maiko, got hit by a truck. She’s still in a coma, but it’s not surprising; we thought she’d have died, but…” she trailed off.

Chikara listened intently and watched as Sokumi tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and tried to finish the sentiment.

At length, Sokumi went on, “See, Maiko’s the roommate I’ve been telling you about; I promised Aki that I wouldn’t give up on her, and if I gave you her room, it’d mean I’ve let both of them down.”

Chikara sat back in her seat, processing the information and finally understanding what all the fuss was about that morning. They sat in silence for a brief moment before Sokumi popped open a tube of lip gloss.

Sokumi refreshed her trademark grin and stuck her foot out of the car. “Come on,” she said in a cautious sort of way. “She’s in a stable condition; it’s just that she’s unconscious. Maiko will wake up, eventually.”

Awkwardly, Chikara crawled out of the car to follow Sokumi's braid swishing back and forth in front of her.

.

Akikawa nodded to the flustered receptionist as he was leaving. “Good day to you.”

The red ribbon that he had removed from the daisies earlier flew out of his pocket the moment he left the building, having been liberated by the wind. Akikawa turned to watch it fly away.

Author’s notes: I have become much fonder of this chapter than I used to be. It’s incredibly short, but it still took me over an hour to revise; I wanted to get every sentiment just right, and the way that it was written before did none of it any justice.

The car bit was fun to write; I wonder how many miles to the gallon that thing gets, or if Aki just has it run on pollution. “If I can concentrate enough of the vapors flying around in the atmosphere, I might just be able to get a car to run on recycled air.” Obviously, I didn't want to get too over-the-top with it.

And writing Chi in these early chapters still hasn’t gotten any easier; she’s not really a quiet, thoughtful character, if you know what I mean. Aki and Sokumi are both a snap, really – both of them are sort of one dimensional at the beginning (especially Aki). It’s later on that they get more complicated, even though Aki still has a fairly easy to follow mentality. Anyhow, I'm sorry this took over a month to post; we had some things to do and I didn't have time to finish the chapter until this week.