The Day the Music Died (Mugetsu)

Sayuri wasn’t quite sure where she was right now. There had been an explosion…screaming…and Colin and Mother…the twins…and something shadowy. What had happened? It was hard to remember right now. Her vision was blurred and she felt herself moving, but she wasn’t the one doing it. There was a wailing coming from somewhere…sirens maybe? Could’ve been sirens. Everything was too hazy, too removed from her right now. She knew she was hurt. She wasn’t sure where, but it wasn’t a vital organ or anything. Broken bones, maybe? Whoever was taking her away wasn’t letting her move very much, so it was possible. They had been picnicking. Why wasn’t she at the park now? She struggled to remember, but it brought her closer to the surface of consciousness and that sent sharp spikes of pain traveling up and down her body. She gave a small scream before someone did something and blessed, painless darkness took her out again.

But unconsciousness didn’t keep hold of her long. It felt like no time had passed at all when her eyes suddenly snapped open and she screamed. It was right there, clear as the sunlight streaming through the window beside – a monstrous figure towering over her, its body twisted and grotesque, the strange white mask that was its face leering motionlessly at her as it taunted her and the twins with their mother and brother’s lifeless bodies. They were dead. Mother and Colin were dead and she had been too weak to do anything about it, too blind until it was too late. And then there was pain, redoubling her screams as she squirmed on the bed. Everything hurt – from her head to her fingers to her toes, it felt like she was on fire. She should be dead, too. Those black-robed warriors should have let it kill her instead of letting her endure this. She was too caught up in the pain to realize that someone had burst into the room. It wasn’t until they tried to restrain her that she reacted. “Keep off me! Monsters! Fiends! Get away from me!” she screamed in Gaelic as she flailed about. Terror shoved the pain aside as adrenaline skyrocketed through her veins. She wouldn’t let them touch her! She wouldn’t let them get her! She scrambled off the bed, bucking and squirming as something tried to pin her down.

“Dad! Ichi-nii! I can’t hold her! She’s too big!”

More commotion, more things coming into the room. Things wrestling her back onto the bed, strapping her down as she screamed and cursed them in Gaelic. And then there was a sharp prick in her right arm, followed by tingling and numbness. Then the darkness came again and she could not resist its warm embrace.

++++
Several hours later:

Sayuri woke a lot more slowly this time. Her bleary eyes opened to see the last of the evening sunlight as it left a gentle, warm glow in the room where she was restrained. She didn’t feel quite so hysterical this time. She didn’t feel the pain as much either. Her body was just a dull ache now, but her heart…she wasn’t sure if it was numb or twisting in agony. Colin…Mother…they were gone. No more of Colin’s singing to brighten the day. No more of Mother’s quiet, soothing humming when she needed comfort. It had literally been ripped away from her in an instant. She turned her gaze from the fading sunlight to her hospital room. She assumed it was a hospital room at least. It sure looked like one. As her eyes flitted over the room, she noticed someone leaning in the doorway. She couldn’t really see who it was in the rapidly fading light and she wondered if she should feel concerned. But concern required too much energy and she just couldn’t be bothered with concern right now. “Who are you?” she asked hoarsely, slipping back into Japanese now that she was lucid.

Ichigo started when the girl spoke. He had not expected her to be awake. He had been told to go check on the new patient, so now here he was, wondering if there was any point in actually entering the room since it was pretty obvious that she was asleep, and he didn't want to disturb her. But when she asked him who she was, Ichigo was proven wrong.

Not wanting to seem like a shady character by lingering in the shadows, he straightened up and walked until he was within roughly two feet of Sayuri's bed. He wanted to give her some space, especially in light of the way she had acted when she was first brought into the clinic. At first, he figured it was just another ordinary patient. Dad and Yuzu had it under control. Then the screaming started, and he had to run and help them restrain her. It wasn't the way you would expect a person to react right off the bat, even from a car accident; it was more like she had seen something that terrified her. He heard from Yuzu that she had been in a car accident, but something about that explanation seemed off. It had to be one hell of a traumatic car accident to make someone that paranoid, right? He wasn't going to hold any of that against her, of course. Waking up in an unfamiliar place after losing one's family could set anyone on edge. He knew that all too well.

"I'm Ichigo. You're at my family's clinic right now." he said after he had stopped near her bedside. He didn't look particularly threatening, still wearing his black school uniform with the jacket left unbuttoned, as if he was either coming home from school, or just about to leave. Then again, lots of people thought Ichigo was a "delinquent" often based solely on his hair colour, even though it wasn't dyed at all.

Ichigo was itching to ask questions about the accident, but even then, he couldn't be so inconsiderate. It was obviously a horrible experience for the girl, and he didn't want to make her relive those memories if she didn't want to. "So... how are you feeling?" he asked after a brief pause. He felt that he had to say something more, but he had no idea who she was. Before last night, he had never seen her before in his life.

OOC:

Sayuri squinted slightly to get a better look at the kid that now stood about two feet from her bed. He looked like he might be about Hiro’s age, maybe a little older. It was a bit hard to tell with that uber-serious look on his face. He was definitely younger than her judging by the fact that he was wearing a school uniform, so it seemed odd that he was in what she had assumed was a hospital – stranger still that he was checking in on her. So it couldn’t actually be a hospital. Perhaps she had been taken to a clinic because her injuries weren’t that bad. That would make sense, if the park had been closer to this clinic than to a hospital.

“I'm Ichigo. You're at my family's clinic right now.”

Oh, good. Her brain wasn’t so completely addled that she couldn’t put two-and-two together anymore. That was a small comfort. “Ichigo…” she murmured to herself. That was a good name, though a bit funny when one combined it with his hair color. It was such a vibrant orange color, but there was no way it had come from a bottle – in her experience, that perfect of a color couldn’t be bought. People probably thought he was a thug. But he was warm, in spite of everything that would indicate otherwise. She wasn’t sure why she felt that way, but she did. Colin would have known exactly what she meant. He probably would’ve been able to explain it, too. He had always been so…eloquent and elegant…

“So... how are you feeling?”

Sayuri blinked, bringing Ichigo back into focus. There was a brief silence as her brain slowly processed the question. Physically, she would probably be fine. Physically, she felt alright. She couldn’t feel her left arm below the elbow, but that would probably fix itself eventually. But how was she feeling? She sighed and looked up at the ceiling, watching dust motes dance in the fading daylight. She shifted slightly, remembering that she was still strapped to the bed when she didn’t move very far. She wasn’t really sure how to respond to his question, but apparently concussions get rid of all filters so she just said the first thing that came to mind. “Like I am strapped to a bed after my life was drastically, horribly changed in the span of a few minutes and I do not even know if any of it was real or if I am as crazy as I sincerely hope I am. And I have a horrible case of cotton mouth. Whatever your family used to knock me out was some good, strong stuff.” She looked back at Ichigo and gave him a crooked, strained smile. “You can call me Ualas, by the way.”

Seeing the girl just stare at him for a few moments, Ichigo knew that he had asked a rather stupid and pointless question. She had just lost her family, how could she feel? Then again, he was asking more about her physical condition than emotional, not that he had bothered to make that part clear at all. It was just that he had no idea what to say, so by default, he asked how she felt. For all he knew, she wanted to be alone. Or maybe not. Maybe, after an experience like that, she wanted some company. It was a touch and go situation. If she sent him away, he wouldn't be offended.

He felt relieved when she responded. She was good-natured, at least. Ichigo didn't think he would be, were he in such a situation. It was admirable. At least she wasn't screeching at him like she had been the night before.

"I guess that was a stupid question, huh?" he said, with a slight smirk. "Is that your name?" he asked soon after. It was an odd name, he had never heard anything like it. But then again, he couldn't talk. Most people thought he was named after a fruit. He was always quick to correct those who assumed that, but it was still annoying as hell.

At the mention of her being "strapped to a bed", Ichigo had to keep himself from saying something. It sounded so wrong, especially with him in the room. Now that Ualas' little episode seemed to be over, he didn't see any need for her to be restrained anymore. It was probably uncomfortable. With the intention to undo Ualas' restraints, Ichigo took a step forward and reached for the nearest one, only to stop and look over at her as if to ask for permission, since it would involve him getting pretty close to her and maybe even making physical contact. And no matter how much he tried to act cool and detached, he was extremely shy and modest when it came to things like that.

He also had to wonder what she meant about whatever happened being real. Had she never been in a bad accident before and it surprised her? Or were there some other elements at play? Could it be possible that she was like he was? Could she see spirits? Whatever the case, he wasn't going to ask unless she wanted to talk about it. He wasn't overly interested in talking about ghosts like others normally would be. It wasn't cool at all and it didn't make him "special". It was more like a curse.

She gave a quiet snort. “Not stupid, just…ambiguous,” she said good-naturedly. But he probably had already guessed as much. It was a pretty standard question to ask in a situation like this. He probably hadn’t even meant her emotional state when asking it. This was a clinic, dealing with patients who had various physical ailments. It wasn’t their job to ask about how a person was holding up, just whether or not they were about to collapse or something like that. Mental filters – she needed to get them back in place ASAP. She would probably say something stupid, sarcastic and/or revealing if this kept up. “I promise to not bite you if you undo the restraints. And my good arm is too busted up to do anything to you anyways.” Apparently it was too late to avoid saying something stupid. She’d been thinking it, but why did she have to actually say it like that? So incredibly awkward.

At least it got the kid to start undoing the restraints. “My given name is Sayuri Ròs. Ualas is my family name. It’s Scottish,” she explained as he started on the restraints. When she felt the first one loosen, she felt herself relax. She hadn’t even realized she was tense to begin with, but she supposed it didn’t ultimately matter. “My family’s about the only ones who actually call me Sayuri anymore. Everyone else just calls me Ualas. I’m not quite sure why people call me Ualas. Even my friends do that. You’d think they’d just call me Sayuri or Ròs, but nope. Just Ualas. The twins say it’s cuz I’m terrifying and no one wants to be friendly with me, but Colin…” She paused as her mind turned back to Colin. Sweet, big-hearted Colin who couldn’t stand seeing anyone hurting or alone. She sighed as the last of the restraints fell away. "Colin liked to say it was because people respected me. Because I'm strong. Because I don't put up with people's bullshit. Mother said it was because I was too much like my father," she murmured as she slowly sat up. She carefully pulled her legs up - mindful of her bandaged arm - so she could rest her chin on her knees. "Fat lot of good any of it did today. They're still dead." At least she had unrestricted movement again – relatively speaking, of course. Her arm was still in bad shape and her whole body was still a dull ache, but she wouldn’t be stuck here if those shadow monsters decided to come back. "Thanks," she added, turning her head and tilting it slightly to look up at Ichigo. "I don't know about you, but I hate not being able to move. Feels like I'm trapped, you know?"