Foggy Past Pt. 3 (Final)

It seemed as if minutes were hours as he waited for Koko to wake up. The minute hand acted as if it was digging its way around the face of the clock, barely able to tick towards the next hour. As he waited next to her he’d begun to imagine an army of those little clock hand guys taking down some sort of hour hand monster. You got pretty desperate for entertainment when so little happened.

Just then, his hopes were answered as Inari walked through the door. One of her classes had a lab fairly late in the day, so she’d always get back this late on Tuesdays.

“She’s still not awake?”

“Nope, won’t seem to.”

“You haven’t really told us who she is, have you?”

“She’s a friend from a while ago but don’t tell Lawrence. Actually, don’t tell anyone. It’s a miracle that Mitch and Elaine haven’t spilled it…”

“From your childhood?”

“Yeah, she’s actually the reason that I came to dislike Youkai for so long.”

“Really?!”

“I thought she killed my parents.”

“Oh… so what do you think now?”

“I’m not sure. Honestly she could very well have been the killer, but nobody ever told me. I need her to tell me herself.”

“Ah, I see.”

Inari smiled a bit and ran to the stairs.

“You’ll be pleasantly surprised I’m sure.”

Mark just shrugged and looked back down at Koko as Inari went back up the stairs. He was glad that he hadn’t seen Oku since bringing Koko here, if she got hold of him there would be teasing without end. Oku normally just teased Lawrence, but if alone she would strike out at Mark. The teasing towards Mark was always at a higher level as well… maybe there was more to attack? Or it was possible she just didn’t really like him.

He really was getting bored if he was thinking about Oku teasing him.  Looking back down at her, Mark looked her over. She had changed quite a bit since they had last met. She used to be a child like him, but right now she looked like his age. She’d filled out a bit, though still a tomboy and she’d kept her short hair. He didn’t mind just sitting here looking at her honestly.

As he looked over her his gaze drifted down from her face and a few seconds later he felt the arm of the couch move, which he’d been leaning on.

“Ah, ouch…”

“What?! You’re awake?”

She’d likely been a little surprised that Mark was hanging over her like that and she’d fallen off the couch when she’d woken up.

“You ok?”

After helping her hack onto the couch he checked her shoulder to make sure it was ok.

“Mark? You helped me?”

“Of course I did. You were getting killed by a leecher.”

“A leecher?”

“A Youkai that was taking away your spiritual energy till you died.”

“Oh. You saved me though…”

“I assisted my uncle in saving you. The Youkai latched onto me.”

“I thought it was a dream so I grabbed you…”

“You thought it was a dream?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh. Well. That’s why I helped you.”

“Well, I should probably get going then… You still said…”

Suddenly Elaine waltzed into the room with some food and a drink for Koko. Seems like the older woman had noticed that the atmosphere in the room had taken a turn for the worst, and was trying to salvage the situation.

“So Koko’s woken up! Amazing! I guess we’ll have to start setting up her room then!”

“My what?”

Mark, exasperated, put his fingers to the corners of his eyes. He’d expected Elaine to barge in, but she was being so forward…

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Maybe Koko has a place to go…”

“Well… the apartment was the only place that I could go. I just scared everyone away though…”

Koko looked sadly at the ground, leading Elaine to smile and point with her head to the Youkai.

“Looks like you’re homeless then! It’s great that one of our packrats just left, you can have his room!”

“You’d really offer me a place in your home?”

“Of course! Mark would love to have you anyways.”

“Gah.”

Mark had finally been defeated, falling backwards into the sofa he had been standing above. Reason had been cast aside and Elaine would have that girl working for her in no time. Mark could barely differentiate between Elaine trying to hire her and Elaine giving charity to a homeless Youkai. Shaking his head, he accepted it.

“Yes… we have an open room upstairs. If you really want to live here it can be arranged.”

“Really? You’d take me in after all I did?”

“I’m not exactly sure what you did to be honest. We’ll have to talk about that sometime, but for now I think it’s best if you rested up and recovered. Reinhardt said you would be fairly weak after waking.”

Taking Elaine’s outstretched arm, Koko balanced herself and smiled.

“He wasn’t wrong then.”

Setting down the platter on the table, Elaine took Koko reassuringly by the arm.

“Perhaps we should just bring her upstairs. Luckily I took the liberty of refurbishing the room after Koichi so rudely junked it up.”

Somewhere in the Youkai capital Koichi sneezed at his desk.

“Geh… gross…”

Elaine motioned for Mark to take Koko’s other arm and went back to pick up the platter, following Mark as he escorted his old childhood friend up the stairs. The staircase was fairly small, so it was cramped walking up the old stairs. Arriving in front of Koichi’s old door, Elaine scurried in front of them and opened up the door so that Mark didn’t have to release his grip. Glaring slightly at his foster mother, Mark took her inside and laid her down on the clean bed.

“Here you are dear, I prepared some drinks and a few healthy things. Your energy should be back up in no time!”

Smiling, Elaine slammed the door behind her, leaving Mark and Koko alone in the room.

“She’s quite… eccentric, isn’t she?”

Koko was slightly smiling.

“Well, she became my mother after… that…”

“Mark I didn’t do it. Please believe me. I loved those two almost as much as you did.”

“I know… I just couldn’t accept it. I thought you’d tricked me and it didn’t help that most of the Youkai I met after that got a kick out of torturing me. I really wished I hadn’t thrown you away all those years ago. Honestly.”

“I’m mad at myself for being so stupid and running. Eventually I went back to the apartment of course, thinking that if I waited there you would come back some day. I got a little angry that others would live in the place that we did, and I scared them away. One by one and little by little I felt a nagging at the back of my mind, and by then it was too late. I think you called it a leecher? One of those terrible things had control of my mind. It took me over and started to kill me, but I couldn’t find it within myself to rip it off me before it consumed me. But of course, you saved me again.”

Sme smiled weakly, leading Mark to smile back a bit. As much as he wanted to prod her on more she needed sleep. Not only that, he needed to process some things. After all that had happened he could safely say that he was not the most trusting person in the world…

“You should rest. We can talk when you’re feeling better. I’m just glad that you woke up…”

“Thank you for saving me Mark. I hope… I hope we can start over.”

“Yes, so do I.”

Mark walked to the door and swung it open, taking one last look at his old friend as she snuggled into the blankets, which were handmade by Elaine herself. That woman…

Shutting the door he immediately felt a presence.

“Oku.”

“What?! How did you know?!”

“More like, how could I miss your presence.”

“Ugh, you’re such a fun killer Mark, you know that?”

Shrugging he responded.

“When the fun that is made stems from my misfortune I don’t really call that fun.”

“Well I do.”

“Your opinion on that doesn’t really matter to somehow.”

The fox smiled and began towards the stairs.

“Soooo, she’s pretty cute.”

Mark’s fist collided with the wall faster than a bullet, almost punching a hole right through it. Oku simply put a hand to her mouth and chuckled.

“Ahaha! You’re hilarious when you get riled up Mark!”

“Shut it fox, that right there is nothing compared to you and Lawrence. Dammit, you two are practically hard to watch. So little improvement it hurts.”

For some reason, this caused Oku to stop in her tracks, and her eyes glazed over a bit.

“You know Mark, some Youkai are quite reluctant to do something like that.”

“Like what?”

“Get with a human in that way. We know we’ll outlive them after all. Some of us see it as trading a few fleeting years of happiness for many of sorrow. Of course the alternative is thousands of years of stoicness, but some find solace in that. Is it not pointless to be with someone who lives so short of a life?”

“Not at all. One thing I learned in college recently was a line by an ancient poet. He said something along the lines of being fortune’s fool. Basically what you’re telling me is that you simply don’t care about him enough to defy fortune. Sounds like a simple case of you being unsure of your feelings. Maybe you don’t really love him at all.”

Mark shrugged.

“If that’s really how you feel, you had better let Hato and Inari know. You aren’t the only one that feels strongly about him you know.”

Oku’s face was clouded in darkness as Mark walked away. He liked to see himself as the smart as-it-is type of guy. Maybe even a bit quiet. He would tell the truth as he knew it, or something like that. Walking back to his room, he went inside and locked the door. Today had been a horror show. Everyone had made fun of him in succession it seemed, first Hato, then Inari, though Inari wasn’t really making all that much fun of him, Lawrence, and finally Oku. Luckily he’d been able to give Oku a piece of his mind. He didn’t like pulling out the big guns, but this was just one of those times he was forced to. Though since coming here it had seemed as if everything was different. Mitch and Elaine had been the family he’d needed all those years ago, but everyone here was the family he’d wanted. Yes, even Seph. Everyone needed an idiot brother after all. Yawning, Mark laid down on his bed. He was about to take a very well deserved rest.