jennifier-a spider's scheme

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FOLLOWER ~a spider's scheme~
by
Jennifier D.

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Who will leave me alone with my pain?

[a spider crawling along slowly, maimed]

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Part V.I:

For the second time within the year, Kirito found himself lying

on a hospital bed, staring at the whitewash ceiling. He laid

there quietly, listening to the constant beep of the EEG next to

him. Pale fingers twitched on the bed sheets, then clenched hard.

The vocalist closed his eyes. He breathed in deeply, and noted

the sharp pain which started in the left side of his chest.

Kirito opened his eyes again, and reached under his hospital gown

to touch the gauze covering his chest wound.

With a soft sigh, the vocalist sat up on his bed, feeling

disorientation wash over him as his body tried to adjust to the

sudden shift in position. Kirito turned and found Kohta sleeping

by the side of his bed, and even in slumber, a crease was etched

between his eyes. Jun was sitting beside him, asleep in his

chair. The bassist was holding Jun's hand tightly and Kirito

noted the identical rings on their fingers. He closed his eyes

again.

He used to have one too. An identical ring to the one Aiji wore

on the fourth finger of his right hand.

Kirito reached down and traced the outline of the ring on his

finger gently. There was a nagging feeling in his mind, telling

him that there was something more important which he had to deal

with now. Kirito let his hand fall from the ring finger, then

slipped off the bed silently.

Aiji's confession about his mental condition... it was extremely

surprising. Among all his band members, he always thought that

Aiji was the sanest, the most normal one. He knew that he himself

was bad influence on Kohta, causing the latter to have bipolar

disorder. Takeo, on the other hand, has his own little

eccentricities. Jun  seemed pretty normal, but was actually

someone who had a severe case of inferiority complex. He simply

never showed it, that's all. Aiji...

Aiji was normal. Or as normal as he could see... Maybe that old

English saying was true.

'Never judge a book by its cover.'

Kirito walked over to the window, gazing out of it with an

unreadable look on his face. He glanced down and froze. Kirito

then quickly turned round and ran out of his room, running down

the hospital passages in a hurry. And despite all these, his face

didn't hold a single trace of emotion. Some nurses shouted at him

for running, some tried to stop him but he had already reached

his target.

"Aiji."

The guitarist turned around and smiled. An uncharacteristic smirk

covering his face. Kirito felt like wiping that look off his

face. That wasn't Aiji smiling...

That wasn't the Aiji he knew.

The Aiji he knew would never smirk.

The Aiji he knew...

"Yes, Kirito?" Aiji took off his shades and crossed his arms,

gazing evenly at the older man.

"You're not..."

"Ah. So you've finally realised that fact."

Kirito blinked. "What did you do to Aiji?"

"You should ask yourself that, Kirito." Aiji sighed, then took

out a cigarette, lighting it easily. "Ask yourself what you did

to him. How you broke his heart utterly. How you crushed his hope

and will in living."

"Aiji doesn't want to see you anymore, so he has gone into hiding

deep within." Aiji shrugged, then extinguished his half finished

cigarette, making a face. "Unless you can do something to make

him come back, I'm staying."

Kirito only stood there, his hospital gown flapping in the wind

as Aiji turned and walked away from him, slipping his hands into

his pockets. The vocalist reached out towards the disappearing

back view of Aiji, his hand trembling faintly in the wind. A tear

slowly slide down his face, but he ignored it totally.

"Don't go..."

Kirito clenched his shaking hand into a fist.

"Aiji... you liar."

"You promised to never leave my side again..."

End: Part V.I

Date completed: 231101

Last revised: 081201

~to be continued~