04/27/09 – Before you start reading Vena Cava, I would just like to say a few things.

First, this story will be drastically different from Fists and Lipsticks (much lighter, less complicated, but will still have those ‘brain-frying’ twists nevertheless). As much as I am aware that comparisons could not be avoided given that these two stories are both written by me, each of them is unique in their own way from the plot to the writing style.

Next, as of this moment, I’m still in the process of revising and posting the last few remaining chapters of F&L2, so do not expect this to be updated as often for the month of April and May. Similarly, expect constant updates of this story after Fists and Lipsticks 2: The Silver Crescent ends this mid 2009 (June/July).

Third, please DO NOT plagiarize. I’m speaking not only for my stories but for everyone else’s too. Writing stories, especially full-length ones, tantamount to hard work, intricate planning, sleepless nights, brain-frying brainstorming, and tremendous amount of inspiration. Please do not steal.

Fourth, I’d like to introduce myself (especially to new readers / non-F&L readers). My name is Hiro and YES, I’m a guy. For our thread in Soompi Forums, the one in-charge of the PM list is Meia, my fiancée. Feel free to PM or e-mail us whenever you have questions, clarifications, problems (but nothing about financial stuff please, hehe), jokes, greeting cards, or random rants you wanted to share. We love those, hehe.

Lastly, THANK YOU for dropping by and WELCOME to my new full-length N.G. story, Vena Cava. I hope you enjoy your stay with us.

ABOUT VENA CAVA:

Written by: hiro0911 (Fictionpress) / HiroLovesMeia (Soompi Forums)
Date started: January 19, 2009
Date posted: April 27, 2009
Date ended: - - -
Current status: Ongoing
Genre: Supernatural/Mystery/Romance
Themes: college life, human anatomy, police, forensics, combat arts
Rating: PG-13 for mild violence

Contact us: Hiro (hlarucea AT hotmail DOT com) / Meia (meialee09 AT aol DOT com)

Visit my writing blog: hiro-0911 DOT blogspot DOT com

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Here it is… VENA CAVA - - -

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- AN ENTREATY -

Sweet and hollow VENA CAVA, will you please deliver my LOVE?
Carry ME back to your HEART, give me AIR, and return my LIFE.
- O.S.

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Chapter 01
SUE’S ANATOMY

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“How my heart beats right.”
– H.S.

- - -

What if you were born different?
And because you are different, you can do extraordinary things?
And because you can do extraordinary things, you are special?
And by being special, you’re deemed to be perfect?

Will you LIVE it?

- - -

They say that Honda Sumiko was the perfect medical student.

Even before Sumiko graduated from Tsuzuya Academy (the best high school ever), she already received countless phone calls, e-mails, and admission letters from every prestigious medical school in Japan. They were that desperate to have someone like her enrolled in their university, convincing her using their own gimmicks ranging from full-scholarships and free medical books to ludicrous bribes such as unlimited visits to the posh Sakura spa for a whole body massage, an 80 GB Playstation 3 with 65-inch LCD TV, and a limited edition Louis Vuitton bag.

Her so-called ‘celebrity status’ was not incidental, but it was something that had not been there for a very long time either, although innate. Back in Tsuzuya, Honda Sumiko’s student life was anything but extraordinary. Her daily routine consisted of all things considered 'normal' for a typical high school teen – punctually going to class, studying in the library, eating lunch in the cafeteria, going back to class to study again, and walking home along the cherry blossom-laden pathway right after if not car-fetched by her older brother - also a medical student at that time. High school students cared the least about Honda Sumiko’s incredible ancestors, for back then, hot campus gangsters, pretty cheerleaders, and soccer team captains were more popular than someone like her whose parents were both doctors, whose siblings were doctors in-the-making, whose grandparents were doctors, whose grandparent’s parents and grandparents were doctors, and whose grandfather’s mother’s sister’s great-grand-parent’s brother and grandmother’s second sister’s third degree cousin were doctors. Even their dog’s name was Gregory (who lived in a dog-H.O.U.S.E.). It was almost like being born with a stethoscope already hanging on her neck. It was Sumiko’s fate to continue such great legacy of physicians.

It was a different story now that Sumiko was in medical college, where ninety-nine percent of the student population could draw her entire family tree.

How come these medical schools wanted her that badly?

Was she that smart?

Probably.

But ‘she ought to be’ seemed to be the better answer. After all, Sumiko was Honda Megumi’s daughter. Yes, that Doctor Honda Megumi – the world-known pioneer of heart transplantation.

Who, in the medical field, has not heard about Doctor Honda Megumi? If philosophy had Aristotle, Microsoft had Bill Gates, and MTV had Britney Spears, the equivalent for everything cardiology would be no less than Honda Megumi herself. She has performed more than three hundred successful heart surgeries in her entire medical career, twenty-five of which were precisely what she was known for – heart transplantation. She was the first in the world to perform such complicated medical procedure through grafts from cadaveric donors. Her name has been cited in countless medical journals and books. She has won many awards for her outstanding achievements and contributions to medicine.

Doctor Honda Megumi was that great.

Now they think that Sumiko’s ‘great’ too – head to toe.

Honda Sumiko was quite appealing. At nineteen, she stood five feet four inches tall. She had a slender body, unblemished skin, pink lips, and copper-colored hair flowing midway to her waist, which she often pushed back with a white lacy headband. Her hazel eyes were unusually bigger than what an archetypal Japanese girl would be expected to have. She was not drop-dead gorgeous, but Sumiko most certainly could turn heads every-so-often.

Now at her second year in Oshima Ika Daigaku (Oshima Medical University), Honda Sumiko has proven herself worthy of being called the ‘next Honda Megumi’. For the past school year, she has garnered the highest scores in the basic sciences: human physiology, biochemistry, genetics, medical ethics, and of course, human anatomy – her favorite subject. Her name has been written so many times at the top-A list on bulletin boards found right across the elevators on the circular marble-floored main lobby . The medical school itself seemed to serve as constant reminder to what Sumiko ought to be as walls, trophies, statues, even signboards and portrait frames along almost every corridor contained her okaa-san’s (mother's) name embossed.

Even the white board room-type desk and chair on which she sat on during radiology class that morning had Honda Megumi’s name on it. ‘Donated by Batch 1985 through the efforts of Doctor Honda Megumi’ – it said. Hers was only one of the eighty four more seats inside the spacious classroom inclining upwards, almost similar to the seating arrangements of movie-houses except for the long tables and rotating chairs provided for every queue. In front was a small stage, a podium for reporting, the Japanese flag and the school’s emblem hung on medium-sized flagpoles, a wide whiteboard, a human skeleton, and an LCD projector.

The topic for radiology class was the anatomy of the heart and the mediastinum in chest x-rays.

The previous day, each student was asked to find their skills-lab partner. They were individually taught by the senior residents how to position patients properly for x-raying the chest. Next, the students were asked to present the findings of their own radiograph in front of the class.

Reporting day was today.

“Can I have the next student to go to the front and discuss
the anatomy of the heart and the mediastinum on chest x-rays?”

No one stood up.

“Next reporter is… Honda Sumiko-chan,” the professor gestured towards Sumiko, who was seated on the fourth-row, left-most seat. “Honda-chan, will you please go down here and present to the class your chest x-ray?”

“Uh… well I…”

“Honda-chan?”

Her classmates simultaneously turned their heads towards her, each of them with quizzical looks.

Honda Sumiko, the ace student, was ‘hesitant’ to recite all of a sudden?

Seemingly placed under the spotlight and consequently left with no other choice, Honda Sumiko pulled out a long envelope from her desk drawer and slowly stood up from her chair. Biting her lips and appearing anxious all of a sudden, she clutched the brown envelope containing her chest radiograph tight as she made her way down the stairs and towards the podium.

Sumiko looked up from where she stood and saw her classmates paying full attention to her, each of them seemingly anticipative of what she was about to say. Seven students reported ahead of her, but when her turn came, the class obviously fell triply silent. Sumiko tried her best to ignore the pressure her surroundings were placing on her shoulders. Heaving one big sigh, she pulled out her chest radiograph and clipped it onto the projector in front.

As she turned on the switch, the image of her chest x-ray flashed on the screen big enough for every one in the room to view.

She got the reaction she anticipated.

“Honda Sumiko, you positioned your chest radiograph wrongly,” her professor commented, pointing towards the x-ray film she presented in front of the class.

The professor was about to deduct points from her grade when Sumiko shook her head and replied firmly –

“No, doctor.”

“Honda Sumiko-chan,” the professor pulled down his thick eyeglasses to the tip of his nose and looked at Sumiko with a curious expression, “I thought you got straight ‘A’s in human anatomy? Do you not know the orientation of your heart?”

“I do, doctor.”

“Then why are you presenting to us your chest radiograph with the heart’s apex located on the right fifth-intercostal space?”

“Because that is how my heart is,” she replied, much to the surprise of her classmates and her professor himself.

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“My heart is on the right side.”

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Medicine referred to Honda Sumiko’s congenital and rare condition as Dextrocardia Situs Inversus Totalis – in layman’s terms, the so-called ‘mirror-imaging’ of ALL her visceral organs which occurs in 1 out of 12,000 live births. Her heart was found on the right side of her chest, not on the usual left. Similarly, her spleen was located on her right abdomen, her left lung was bigger than her right lung, and her liver and gallbladder were situated on her left flank.

In addition, her major arteries and veins have major atypical translocations.

Even more peculiarly, Honda Sumiko only had ONE vena cava.

Of course, the news about ‘Sue’s Anatomy’ became an instant hit in Oshima Ika Daigaku.

The rapid spread of the news was no surprise to Honda Sumiko. Ever since she entered the school, she has grown used to it just as much as she was accustomed to breathing air. Being the instant ‘medical school celebrity’ she became thanks to her ever-so-famous-and-great surgeon mother’s reputation, every little action she made from then on was considered a ‘news flash’. Last year, when she inadvertently broke a small test tube during biochemistry class, the entire school knew about it in less than fifteen minutes. When she accidentally lacerated the sciatic nerve of their frog specimen for physiology class, the story was front-paged on their school paper. When she mistook the pectoralis minor for the pectoralis major muscle during the anatomy practical exams, her test-paper was scanned and featured on the school’s student body website.

Honda Sumiko was the great Honda Megumi’s daughter. She should be good. She ought to be good. Every little mistake was considered a disaster. Every little mistake made her less perfect. And so, Sumiko lived like this.

They say that Honda Sumiko was the perfect medical student.

Maybe she was the perfect medical student…

… but that doesn’t mean that she had to be as perfect outside school, does it?

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-VC-

“DRUG DEALERS FOUND AT SECTOR 9 – repeat!”
“DRUG DEALERS FOUND AT SECTOR 9!”

“Let’s go, Honoka-chan! Quick!”

“Sue!”

Twenty-one year old police officer and vice squad member Endo Honoka instantly rushed towards the exit door and blocked Honda Sumiko’s path with her hands and feet both outstretched.

“Sue, your dad’s going to autopsy me alive if he finds out that you went to the mission with us again!”

“Honoka-chan! Just one more, okay? Last! Please?”

“LAST?! How many times have you said that?” Honoka exclaimed as she wrestled her way to pull the dark blue police volunteer vest containing a ‘special badge’ away from Sumiko’s clutch. “No, no, and NO!”

“Honoka-chan!” Sumiko frowned, hiding her vest behind her in stubborn protest.

“Look, Sue…” Honoka heaved a hopeless sigh. “If this is all a game for you… If you’re doing this just to add flavor to your ever-so-perfect life, then I think it’s best that you call it quits while you’re still alive! Don’t you know how dangerous it is to be a police?! Sue, just give me the badge and go home!”

Sumiko shook her head animatedly, “Nah-uh!”

“Sue!”

Honda Sumiko would not listen even if it was her childhood friend, Endo Honoka, talking. After all, Honoka was wrong from the very beginning when she mentioned that being a quote-and-quote ‘police’ was merely a game to Sumiko – and she knew she was wrong. Sumiko's father worked as the chief forensic pathologist for the Tokyo Police, and so she grew up witnessing in awe how the police fought crime valiantly to maintain the city’s peace and order.

Since then, Sumiko became so fond of the idea of becoming a ‘hero’.

How did she get her anti-crime volunteer police badge?

Simple.

The reason why she chose Oshima Ika Daigaku among all the other more popular and prestigious medical schools was this police badge. She turned down the full-scholarship, the free medical books, even the unlimited visit to the posh Sakura spa whole body massage, the 80 GB Playstation 3 with 65-inch LCD TV, and the limited edition Louis Vuitton bag for this small police badge that tantamount to something priceless as far as Honda Sumiko was concerned –

It was the key to fulfilling her dream.

With this anti-crime volunteer badge, Sumiko could at last do what she wanted to do the most – to fight crime and play ‘hero’. At the same time, she was living up to her mother’s legacy by attending Oshima Ika Daigaku, acting out as the most perfect medical student she could be.

If she could do both, that would be a lot better than just being perfect or just being ‘Sue’.

By living a double persona – the prim, proper, and perfect Honda Sumiko inside Oshima Ika Daigaku and the valiant crime-fighter Honda Sumiko a.k.a. ‘Sue’ outside school, she got herself the best deal.

“But you can be a ‘hero’ by saving lives as a doctor in the future!” Honoka said to her.

Sumiko replied this way –

“I want to be extraordinary.”
“I want to do something special.”
“I want to become what I want to be.”

Honoka could not help but smile upon seeing the sanguine expression on Sumiko’s face.

“Last one, clear?!”

“YEY!” Sumiko cheered, putting on her blue vest over her white school uniform. “Ahhh, today’s a good day to fight crime!”

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“All you bad people in Tokyo,
prepare to get your asses kicked!”

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Police cars swept through the busy roads of the Tokyo Nishi-Shinjuku skyscraper-district, the sirens echoing stridently as they advanced to conduct an aggressive, surprise raid of a suspected nest of notorious drug traffickers. Reaching the old abandoned building after merely a ten-minute drive from the police station, Sumiko, Honoka, and two other police men descended from their car and advanced towards the dilapidated structure before them. They loaded their guns with bullets except for Honda Sumiko , who came over empty handed; she did not have a license to carry a gun.

“Sue, are you sure about this?” Honoka was anxious judging merely by the tone of her voice. “Hey, Sue…”

She got no reply.

“Sue?”

“Waaaah!”

Too preoccupied with preparing her gun, Endo Honoka failed to notice that Sumiko had already ran ahead of her straight into the abandoned building, armed with nothing but an old rusty pole she picked up from the grimy alleyway. Sumiko sprinted further into the interior, leaping through several crates and scrap materials sprawled on the floor.

She was still wearing her school uniform, for she headed straight to the Tokyo Police Headquarters right after she was dismissed. The crest of Oshima Ika Daigaku was sewn neatly on the left breast pocket of her white coat paired with maroon-hemmed dark gray skirt, white stretch-socks, and strapless black shoes. What’s up with this bizarre uniform anyway? Am I not in college? Medical college? If Sumiko was to list down the things she abhorred about her current school, the uniform most certainly would land at the top of her list. Wearing such uniform felt no different from high school, or even worse, seemed almost like dressing up a nineteen-year old medical student for a Sailor Moon cosplay.

Just absurd.

For the brief moment she spent climbing the winding staircase, Sumiko cursed herself for not changing her clothes prior to heading to the mission. The dark blue police volunteer vest she wore above her already-superfluous school uniform made her look doubly horrendous. She only felt much worse when she saw her reflection on the full-sized mirror as she arrived on the next floor.

“Awww shit, crappy uniform!” Sumiko whined. “Psh!”

When she looked at her reflection once again on the mirror, she spotted three men running past the corridor behind her, attempting to escape.

“STOP! TOKYO POLICE!” she shouted at the top of her lungs.

Alarmed by Sumiko’s declaration, the three men ran away as fast as they could, each of them holding bulky, suspicious-looking bags.

They were escaping quickly, but Sumiko just would not let them get away. The three men were surprised to see her fast-approaching, running like an Olympic sprinter while holding a tall rusty pole on her grasp. When it became impossible to maintain their distance away from their chaser, the three men turned around and attempted to pull their guns from their belts.

*WHAPPPP!!!*

Sumiko was quick – in fact, too quick even for their reflexes to outdo. Even before the three men could pull out their weapons, Sumiko whirled her rusty pole around, hitting their belts and sending their guns flying to the air. She tossed them away with three separate spin-kicks, making the guns roll beneath the far away crates. Leaving the men unarmed, they simultaneously charged towards her, raising their mighty, calloused fists.

She dropped the pole to the ground and dodged with swift movements as the blows commenced. Punches came almost endlessly, each force gripping with desperation to land a hit. Desperation remained as desperation as not a single fist came in contact even with the tip of Sumiko’s hair tied back with her usual white lacey ribbon. Claiming her turn to attack, she clenched her fists and threw a punch straight towards the first man’s abdomen.

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“HAAAAAAA!!!!!”

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*BAMMM!!!*

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Sumiko grabbed the second man’s collars and lifted him up mightily onto the air. Of course, they were astounded with Sumiko’s outrageous strength.

Whether Sumiko’s strength had something to do with her ‘unusual anatomy’, no one could ever tell. But if her fighting skills were to be questioned, the answer was only logical. Sumiko has studied five types of combat arts – karate, judo, kendo, wushu, and western fencing. She started learning these when she was five years old along with Endo Honoka, her childhood friend (who was seven at that time – two years older than she was).

Perhaps learning how to fight contributed much to her strong desire to become a police woman in the future. The difference between Sumiko and Honoka, however, was that Honoka was able to fulfill that dream. After graduating from high school two years ahead of Sumiko, Honoka entered the police academy and underwent a four-year training course.

For Sumiko’s part, alas, the world has other expectations for her… like being the perfect doctor, for instance – a great doctor like her mother, Honda Megumi.

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“HAAAIYAAAAAAAAAAAA!”

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She sent the two remaining men to the floor, holding their aching abdomens. Sumiko took the opportunity to grab one of the bulky bags. She opened it to inspect what was inside. Her hunches were right – the bag was filled with packs of marijuana and crystal methamphetamine.

“Bingo…” a grin formed on Sumiko’s lips.

Her grin did not last for long, for seconds after her transitory episode of gratification upon taking an active part in solving a crime yet again, a horde of gangsters encircled her. There were twenty of them in total, each wearing black masks concealing their face and holding metal bats on their hands.

“Hand over the bags,” the one in the middle said, “… that is if you still wish to stay alive.”

Sumiko stood up and flashed an intimidating smirk, “If you wanted them back so badly, why don’t you come here and get them yourself?”

“Who the hell are you?”

“I’m with the Tokyo Police.”

“Tokyo Police?!” the gangster chuckled, looking at her from head to toe. “Sailor Moon’s working for the Tokyo Police now? Gruahahahaha….”

The other masked men joined him in a chorus of mocking laughter.

“B-Boss… ugh…” one of the men Sumiko has beaten up crawled to the gangster’s feet. “B-Be… careful… she’s… s-strong… ugh…”

“FUCKING SISSY! Look at you, pathetic little…”

*BAMMM!*

“UGH! B-Boss, f-forgive… me… ugh…”

“She’s strong? Hmm…” the gangster advanced forward until he was face-to-face with Sumiko. He reached for her chin and tilted her head from side to side as if she was an item being inspected. “By the looks of it, she DOES seem strong… in some other activity.”

Sumiko raised an eyebrow. That moment, she knew that she was not going to like what the gangster was going to say next.

“What about pleasing me for a night and I’ll promise to forget everything that happened today?”

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*SPIT!*

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“ACKKKK!”

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“PERVERTED ASSHOLE!” Sumiko barked at the gangster’s face after spitting out saliva on his exposed left eye.

“YOU FUCKING BITCH!”

The enraged gangster raised his arm, preparing to smack Sumiko with the back of his hand.

Just before he was about to strike her hard, however…

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“Don’t.”

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“What the fuck are you doing, Sen?!” the gangster roared at the other masked man alongside him that grabbed his fist tightly, keeping him from hitting Sumiko.

“This is going overboard,” he replied indifferently “Just get the bags and let her go.”

“But…”

Sumiko glared angrily at the man, “Who said that you’re getting the bags back?”

However, as Sumiko looked at the man’s eyes more closely, she noticed that he was gazing somewhere else. She traced his line of vision and realized that he was staring at the Oshima Ika Daigaku emblem on her school coat.

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“Oshima Ika Daigaku…” she caught him mutter silently. “Honda… Sumiko…?!”

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Holy crap!
My name patch!

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Sumiko immediately pulled her dark blue police vest over the emblem and her name patch to cover them. As she did, the other gangster quickly pulled his dubious, prying eyes away.

The moment Sumiko turned around, she was alarmed when she spotted other gangsters stealthily picking up the bags filled with illegal drugs from the floor and running away with them towards the nearby rear exit.

“W…W-Wait! STOP!”

“DON’T!”

“UGH!”

When Sumiko was about to run after the other gangsters, the same man that saved her cheeks from the mighty slap called ‘Sen’ grabbed her wrist and pulled her back. She immediately resisted, pulling her hands away from his tight clutch.

Sen did not let go.

Instead, he signaled to the other gangsters –

“ALL OF YOU, BRING THE BAGS AND ESCAPE BY THE REAR DOOR! HURRY!”

Panicking, Sumiko turned her head and saw the other gangsters doing just as Sen commanded – escaping with the bags filled with illegal drugs.

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They’re escaping!
No…
No…

NO!!!

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“LET ME GO, YOU FREAK! UGH!”

The more Sumiko resisted his grip, the more Sen tightened his grasp on her wrist.

But Sen could only hold on for so long…

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Damn it…
She’s… strong!

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“HAAAAAAAAAA!”

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“AGHHHHH!!!”

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Sumiko tackled him with all her strength. She pushed him against the nearby wall and used her forearm to strangle him.

But Sen still did not let her go. He countered her by using Sumiko’s own power to work against her, turning counterclockwise and switching places with her. He pushed her against the wall, using his entire torso to stop her from escaping.

“LET ME… ugh… LET ME GO, YOU DIRTY BASTARD!”

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“Now tell me…” Sen bent forward to meet her face-to-face.

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“What is Honda Megumi’s daughter
doing in an abandoned building
chasing dangerous gangsters and playing hero?”

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“Y…You…” Sumiko’s eyes widened, realizing that the man was too near. With this nearness, she became aware of how tall he was. By estimation, Sen had to stand just a little below six feet. He was wearing a black leather jacket over a black sleeveless top and chains of odd-looking gothic necklaces hanging from his neck. He had a pair of enigmatic blue-black eyes – the type that were seemingly struggling to tell a story, as if desperate to find someone who would see through them and understand, as if keeping a dark yet melancholic secret…

Sumiko has watched this familiar, cliché scene in every gangster drama she saw on television. Gangsters were purposively fascinating – and this charm was precisely the girl’s weakness most, if not ALL, of the time.

And so, Sumiko did not allow herself to stare too much and be mesmerized.

“IT’S NONE OF YOUR BUSINESS!”

Sumiko rotated her body, grabbed Sen’s arm, and with all her strength, flung him powerfully to the ground. The gangster groaned in pain as the cement floor hit his spine so hard that he found it difficult to stand afterwards.

“Sen! Quick! The police are coming!” the gangster whom Sumiko spitted at earlier hurried to pull Sen up from the floor.

“You’re not going anywhere!” Sumiko shouted, holding the rusty metal pipe on her grip once again, blocking the two remaining gangster’s path.

She stopped, however, when the masked man suddenly drew out a gun from his jacket and pointed it towards her head.

“Get out of our way or I’ll blast your head off!”

Startled, Sumiko dropped the pipe she held to the floor and raised her hands up in surrender. She could only watch helplessly as the two gangsters made their escape.

Once again, her eyes met with those enigmatic blue-black spheres seemingly lagging back, gazing at her.

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Sen…?

Who is he?

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“Sue! Sue!”

Honoka and the other policemen arrived in the scene to find Sumiko kneeling on the floor, the rusty pole she used in fighting the gangsters earlier strewn on the ground along with dust and debris. Her eyes were downcast, blinking only in lengthy intervals.

“Honoka-chan… the bags filled with illegal drugs, the gangsters…” Sumiko clenched her fists. “I’m sorry… I’m so sorry, Honoka-chan. It’s my fault… They got away because of me…”

“Sue…”

“Maybe you’re right. This isn’t where I should be,” Sumiko heaved a sigh.

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“This isn’t what I should be doing…”

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What if you were born different?
And because you are different, you can do extraordinary things?
And because you can do extraordinary things, you are special?
And by being special, you’re deemed to be perfect?

Will you LIVE it?

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Honda Sumiko most certainly WILL.

But regards to how she was planning to do it from this point on, she has yet to decide.

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hiro-0911 DOT blogspot DOT com

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Afternotes:

Thank you for reading the first chapter of Vena Cava. Just to say a few things before I post the next chapters –

First, about the title of this story. Asyou might have known by now, the word ‘vena cava’ as defined by the Encarta dictionary as the “…vein carrying blood to heart: either of two major veins that carry circulating blood into the right atrium of the heart.” The normal human body has two vena cavas. “…The one carries blood returning from the upper body and head is called the superior vena cava. The other brings that from below the chest is called the inferior vena cava.” As mentioned in this chapter, Honda Sumiko (nicknamed ‘Sue’ pronounced as ‘soo’) has only one vena cava instead of two. More about this fact would be explained in the next chapters. But the main reason behind picking this title isn’t merely because of this fact. Later in the story, the title would make more sense.

Next, about me (the author) and my writing pattern in relation to this story. I’ll warn you as early as now that the first few chapters of this story WILL be cliché. I have this certain pattern in sequencing the plot in my stories. I start stories very, very cliché, I drop a bomb or two midway, and drop tons of bombs as the end approaches. I like it that way – I like fooling readers (in a good way), hehe.

Third, (for Soompi Forums readers): regarding the PM list and leaving reviews/comments. Like in our F&L thread, joining the PM list does NOT require you to leave comments. As long as you wish to be in the list and as long as you are still interested to read regardless whether you are planning to read it tonight, tomorrow, next month, next year, or the next century, as long as you ask to be IN, you’re in. Just the same, if you want to be removed, just PM me or Meia and we will remove your name in the list – NO QUESTIONS ASKED. Comments / feedback / constructive criticisms are welcomed and are greatly appreciated, no matter how long or how short. If there’s something you don’t like about the story, feel free to voice out your opinion. If you’re confused or are forgetting who-is-who somewhere in the story (because Vena Cava would have a huge cast too), ask me by posting in our thread or by PM/e-mail and I’d be happy to reply.

Fourth, I am not perfect and I do make many grammar/spelling mistakes, so if you spot them lurking around and spreading doom, I’d appreciate it very much if you could help me locate them (no matter how small they are) for me to exterminate them before they cause chaos, hehe.

If you are after a lighter plot, I guarantee that this will be MUCH lighter than Fists and Lipsticks. The plot is shorter, absolutely no sequel, and I’m trying and struggling to keep it concise up to 150,000 words maximum.

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What to expect in the next chapters:

1. The next update would probably be posted 2 – 3 weeks from now

2. You’ve yet to read about Honda Sumiko’s ‘special’ ability. Remember that this under the supernatural genre. It’s going to be cool and something new. Any guesses?

3. No, Honda Sumiko isn’t a vampire (duh).

4. You’ll meet Sumiko’s family (including her dog, Gregory)

5. You’ll know the other reason why Sumiko wanted to join the police so badly

6. You’re about to meet ‘Sen’ quite often

7. Cliché scenes. Some of you might even vomit from outright clichéness , hehe.

8. Fight scenes, fierce ass-kicking, and wushu (my sport frustration)

9. Comedy (a good diversion from all the serious stuff going on in F&L, hehe)

10. Craziness.

11. Educational stuff. I’m gonna be featuring terms in human anatomy and basic procedures in forensics like identifying gunshot wound entries, determining the time of death, knowing whether the crime scene was altered or not, etc.

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Thanks for reading and see you around!

- The Author