[One shot] Through the Eyes of Harmony - Nino x OC

choshi

well... this is the one shot dedicated to "One Heart, One Love". I hope you all enjoy!

Title: Through the Eyes of Harmony
Rating: G,
Member/Pairing: Nino x OC (Cho)
Author: Koi Choshi

I remembered how lonely my kaa-chan was. I was so young but the sounds of her cries resounded in my head like how an old lullaby stays in a child’s subconscious. I was too young and I could not understand. She stares at an unknown stranger and she suddenly starts crying.

Aunt Melissa, my kaa-chan’s friend in New York told me before that when I was still a baby, she had to take me to her house because kaa-chan experienced an emotional breakdown. All I remembered was that I fell from my crib, crying. I could hear her own cries and the sounds of breaking plates and stuff. I thought it was my fault. I thought I was the reason why she was sad. But what did I do wrong?

A few years passed and it slowly dawned to me what caused her sadness, who caused her sadness. The man on the uchiwa she kept near her bedside table. I did not know how to read but there was something written on the back, something kaa-chan reads everytime she looks at that uchiwa. I was so angry to that man. “Why did you make Kaa-chan cry? She works hard for me, she’s kind and beautiful and she loves me! Why did you hurt her so much that she always cries?” Those were the questions that filled my head.

I was so carried away by my feelings that one day, while she was away, I took the uchiwa. I wanted to destroy it. “I hate you!” I shouted angrily at the smiling photo. How could he be smiling when my kaa-chan’s in agony?

I was about cut it, to slash it when I felt a hand touch mine. “Kazu… Nande?” She was crying again.

“Kaa-chan, he always makes you cry! I hate him!” I looked back at the uchiwa. “Maybe if he’s gone, you’ll be happy again.”

She gasped. “Iie, Kazuko. Don’t hate him.” She smiled at me sadly. “Just continue smiling for me and I’ll be happy.”

“Nande?”

“Because your smile…” she touched my cheek, “…reminds me of happy memories.” Her face was shining with tears. I just wanted to make her happy so from that day on, I kept on smiling at her.

Why does she cry? I wonder…

She watches DVDs full of people smiling, dancing and singing happily. They were full of colors. She listens to happy songs. She looks at smiling photos and yet her tears fall everytime she does.

“Shirayuri oba-san, why is kaa-chan lonely?”

She motioned me to lie on her lap as she explained to me a lot of things. “Kazu, your kaa-chan cries because of love.”

“Love? Isn’t that supposed to make someone happy? Like how kaa-chan loves me. She makes me happy,” I answered, confused.

“Demo, Kazuko, that’s why your kaa-chan left. She loves your otou-san.”

“He shouldn’t have let her go.”

She pressed a finger on her lips to make me quiet. “Your otou-san loves her very much.” She took the uchiwa from the bedside and showed me the small note. “It says here, ‘aishiteru.’ You know that this means?”

I nodded. “It means ‘I love you…’”

“And until now, he still does,” she said. She smiled softly at me.

Did he really love my kaa-chan? If her really does, he should have visited us even once. I did not even like him. And I hated him more when one day, Aunt Melissa knocked on our apartment and carried me to the hospital.

I saw my kaa-chan from a glass overviewing the hospital room. She was unconscious and many apparatus were fitted on her body.

“What happened?” Aunt asked.

“She took in some chemicals form the lab,” the doctor explained. “If she was brought here later, she would have suffered the complications severely. She might have died.”

I looked at her from the glass. She really looked sick. “Kaa-chan, I thought you’ll be happy when I smile. I am always smiling for you. I always try to make you happy. Why are you like this?” I thought bitterly as tears fell from my eyes.

That night, when she was transferred to a hospital room, I stayed with her. I held her hand as I slept beside her hospital bed. Then suddenly, she woke up. She kept on shouting. “I don’t want to be alone anymore. Nino!” she cried. “I can’t live without you…”

“Kaa-chan, kaa-chan,” I said. I squeezed her hand and she immediately noticed my presence beside her. “Onegai. Don’t cry.”

Even in the dim light of the room, I saw her eyes glimmering. She’s crying again. She never stops crying. I wonder if her tears will ever exhaust.

“Kazu,” she said, embracing me. “Gomenasai!” I cried along with her as she held me. Then she asked me to sleep on the bed. She sang to me to sleep.

Life had become normal for us. She cried less frequently, until one day, while I was playing, two weird Japanese men stopped and talked to me and told me that I looked like their friend. Kaa-chan took me away from their sight and warned me never to talk to them. I saw the fear in her eyes. Why was she scared?

After she finished her research, we were obliged to return to Japan. Kaa-chan became stressed and paranoid that she did not want me to leave the house when I was not there. However, what puzzled me was that I saw the pictures of the weird men and the man on the uchiwa all around the city.

Ninomiya Kazunari, that was his name. I met him when he accidentally hit me with his car. He was also the person who took me to the hospital and donated blood to me. And I knew. He proved to me that he really loved my kaa-chan, that he looked for her, that he did not forget her. However, I did not tell him that the woman she loves is my kaa-chan. I don’t want her to cry again.

And one day, more than a year after the accident, kaa-chan took me to a record bar. I got lost because of the wave of people rushing inside. Then I saw him again. He helped me look for kaa-chan. And then they saw each other. She cried. But she smiled. She smiled beautifully, something I haven’t seen ever since I was born.

I knew that we will all be happy…

***

“Ninomiya Kazuko,” otou-chan said as he read my ID. “Sounds better.”

Kaa-chan smiled as she placed my things in my bag. “Hai. Demo…”

He put his arms around her waist. “Are you still worried? Daijoubu. Johnny took care of everything.”

She smiled. “Wakarimashita,” she replied. He gave a peck on her cheek. Kaa-chan kneeled in front of me and said. “Be kind in school, ne? Don’t hurt your other classmates.”

“… And don’t let yourself be bullied,” otou-chan added. Kaa-chan frowned but nodded too.

“Ne, Kazuko, you know what to do?” she asked. “Be a good boy then.” She stood up and led me towards the door. Otou-chan followed, carrying his usual load of extra clothes. “Chotto matte,” kaa-chan suddenly said with an air of strictness. She pulled out something from my bag. “And don’t bring this in school, understand?”

I chuckled as otou-chan rolled his eyes. “Cho…!”

“Don’t let him be like you,” she said smartly.

“Hai. Hai,” he replied. He took her into his arms and gave her a kiss. “Are you sure you don’t want to go with us?”

“Gomenasai. Just take care, ne? Kazu, iku.”

He nodded and gave another kiss. Kaa-chan bent down and kissed me on the cheek too. She accompanied us from our apartment to the car and waved as we sped off. I watched her as she smiled and waved at us. I cherish every single moment she does.