Chapter 4: Discharged
A whole week had gone by before Even could make a decision on how to continue treating her; he wanted to be thorough. After the tenth day, he decided against any invasive procedures since he still didn't know what specifically was causing the arrhythmia. He continued giving her the medicine that was keeping her condition stable. "It's not a cure, so you'll have to keep taking it for the rest of your life," he told her. "I'm sorry I can't do more."
"You've done enough. You probably saved my life," she said appreciatively.
"If you have any more fainting spells, please let one of us know. You've had us all very worried."
"I'm sorry for troubling you."
"It was no trouble at all. You're in perfect health otherwise so of course we're concerned."
"If it happens again...then what?"
"Drastic measures."
Drastic measures that could just as likely kill her as cure her; Even didn't want to take the risk unless he absolutely had to. He watched as one of Kagemiya's aunts came to collect her; outwardly, she showed no tenderness toward her niece and did not support her while walking home. Kagemiya looked back at him over her shoulder briefly before they were gone. He was suddenly reminded of how he had treated Ienzo when he was growing up. "Good Lord, what have I done?" he whispered to himself and went back inside to find Ienzo. "I may have made a mistake," he told him.
"What? With Kage-san?" Ienzo asked worriedly, having no context for this statement.
"No, with you. I wasn't as warm with you as I could have been like the others were. I'm sorry."
Ienzo was stunned. "Okay. What brought this on?" Even explained about Kagemiya's departure, and Ienzo realized too how she could relate to him so well. Then he remembered what she'd told him back when they were in Castle Oblivion.
Ienzo waited a couple of days before going to see Kagemiya. The boy who answered the door had to have been her brother Mako, but apart from their eyes, the siblings looked almost nothing alike. "Nee-san, the boy from the castle is here to see you."
Kagemiya was sitting in a chair reading but stood up when Ienzo came in. "Hi, Ienzo. How are you?"
"You don't have to get up. More importantly, how are you?"
"I'm still getting my energy and strength back, but you can tell Even I'm taking the medicine as directed and that I'm doing fine."
"I will, but that isn't why I came over. Is there anything I can help you with?"
Kagemiya smiled. "No, but I could use a friend."
"Do you want to go for a walk, or would it tire you out too much?"
"I could go for some fresh air, and my legs keep twitching. Not too far, though. Mako-chan, I'm going out."
"Come back safe," Mako called out.
Ienzo didn't think he could support her if she collapsed again, but he didn't want to acknowledge it aloud; he wanted to take care of his friend. "So this is where you grew up," he said as they walked around the neighborhood.
"Yeah. What do you think?"
"It's...quaint."
"That's what Dilan said too back when he used to walk me home at night."
"You must have a lot of memories of this place."
"Well I have lived here my whole life and still do."
"Right. I guess I'd gotten used to having you around when we were Nobodies."
"I know what you mean."
"What will you do now?"
"I guess I'll go back to school."
"Don't work too hard, Sa-chan," said a familiar voice.
"Myde," Kagemiya exclaimed as he had appeared out of nowhere. Ienzo looked just as surprised but not at all pleased.
"Glad to see you're up and about."
"It wouldn't do to stay in bed all the time. I need to be able to walk, you know."
"Why didn't you go see her sooner?" Ienzo asked accusingly.
Myde was taken aback by this. "I wanted to, but I knew her aunts would just shoo me away again like they did when I first found out."
"Then what about when she was still in the castle?"
"To be honest, people are afraid to go anywhere near your place because of what happened. No offense or anything, but..."
"We're doing the best we can to reverse the damage we did because of Xehanort."
They were starting to make Kagemiya nervous, but before she could ask them to stop fighting, they fell silent. "Let's go back," she said, walking back in the direction of her house. The two of them followed behind her just out of earshot.
"What are her aunts really like?" Ienzo whispered. "Are they all similar to Even?"
"Huh? Well..." Myde thought for a moment. "When you put it that way, one of them was super bossy. I think she's the oldest."
"That must be the one who came to pick her up that day."
"The second one was really uptight, the type who's concerned about appearances. The third one was crying hysterically. I think she's her godmother."
"What's a godmother?"
"That's someone who your parents designate to take care of you if they're not around anymore. Would that make Ansem your godfather?"
"I don't know..."
"Sorry."
"How long have you known Kage-san?"
"On and off since elementary school. Lea and Isa too."
"Would you say you two are close?"
"Sort of. Why do you ask?"
Ienzo couldn't bring himself to ask. She was his friend, but there was so much about her he didn't know. Maybe it wasn't even his place to ask.
"Oh, we're not like that, if that's what you were thinking," Myde whispered, thinking Ienzo was jealous (which he was, but not in that way). "Aren't you too young for her though?"
"That's not what I meant."
"Hey, are you two literally talking about me behind my back?" Kagemiya asked, suspicious. She hadn't heard the whole conversation, but she did hear Ienzo say her name.
"He wants to ask you something," Myde volunteered.
"No, forget it," Ienzo denied.
"What is it?" Kagemiya asked. "You can ask me anything."
Ienzo tried to think of an appropriate question. "The aunt who came to pick you up...do you like her?"
This caught Kagemiya off-guard. "She's fine, I guess. Why?"
"After you left with her, Even apologized for the way he'd treated me, all because he saw how the two of you walked away."
Kagemiya became more confused. Was Even like her aunt? "Well, she did help raise me, and Even helped raise you. They're both strict, I suppose. It's too late for us now, though."
"Huh?"
"They brought us up, so we tend to act like them whether we want to or not. What do you think of that?" Ienzo made a face like he didn't like it at all.
"It's true," Myde put in, causing Ienzo to glare at him.
"I'm sure he's always liked you, Ienzo. You're important to him." When he told me that story about Ienzo as a baby, his expression did seem to soften.
When did this start being about me? Ienzo just nodded.
When they reached Kagemiya's house, she said, "I think I'll go lie down now, but one of my aunts will be bringing some food over if the two of you want to stay for dinner."
Depends on the aunt, Myde thought, reluctant to answer.
"I'd better go," Ienzo declined, not looking her in the eye.
"You all must be busy. I hope my stay didn't set you back too much in your real work."
"Don't worry about things like that. Just take care of yourself." As he turned to leave, he almost bumped into a red-haired woman carrying Tupperware containers. "Pardon me."
"What's the rush? Aren't you staying?" the woman asked genially.
"That's the godmother," Myde whispered to him. Out loud he said, "Yeah, the two of us came over to visit."
"Is it really okay, Ienzo?" Kagemiya asked.
Well, I didn't say when I'd be back, Ienzo thought. "Yeah, it's fine."
"Ienzo? I've heard a lot about you," Kagemiya's godmother said, realizing who he was.
Ienzo became even more nervous. Kagemiya's family had obviously been attacked by the Heartless as well. Did they know it was his fault? Did they blame him and the others? What had they talked about on the first night back? "I'm sorry!" he burst out.
The woman looked puzzled. "For what?" she asked. "All I meant was that Sayuri used to talk about you all the time when she babysat you."
"Oh..." Either she really didn't know or she was being incredibly kind by not talking about it.
The five of them sat down to dinner. Ienzo remained quiet, still somewhat plagued by guilt. If Mako held any ill-will toward him he didn't seem to express it. Myde seemed at ease talking to this oba-san, which meant that she was fine on her own; it was the other two aunts who hadn't wanted Kage-san to have visitors.
"By the way, is your father coming home soon?" Ienzo asked Kagemiya.
"As soon as he can. Any day now," she replied.
"That's good."
"He and my husband are land surveyors," her godmother explained. "They're gone for most of the year."
"Interesting. What do you do?"
"I'm a teacher."
"Oh?" Ienzo seemed to appreciate this.
The rest of the evening went off without a hitch. "Thanks for the food, ma'am," Ienzo said as he got up to leave.
"Thank you for looking after my niece."
"I didn't really do much of anything..."
"I'm sure you did. Sayuri told us that all of you at the castle had taken care of her."
Ienzo ran into Lea when he returned home. "You're out kinda late," Lea commented.
"I was visiting Kage-san."
"They let you?"
"Yeah. The aunt who stopped by today was the nice one, according to Myde."
"Oh yeah, I like her. Is she coming back here to see you?"
"I don't know. She says she's going to finish school."
"That's right. It's been a while. I wouldn't worry, though. After everything that's happened, she's not going to forget about you."
Ienzo remembered the pinkie-swear, their promise to remain friends even though he didn't need her to look after him anymore. "You're right. We are friends, after all."
He went back to visit her again the next chance he got. When he arrived at the house, her two girlfriends were just leaving. It was another reminder to him that she had a different life that he wasn't part of. Without prying too deeply, he wanted to talk more about what they had in common, even if it wasn't a happy subject. "Back at Castle Oblivion, you said that your brother doesn't remember your mother. Do you tell him stories about what you remember?" he asked.
"Not much to remember," she replied glumly. "We mostly look at old photos together."
"I don't have too many of those myself. Sometimes when I find myself really missing my parents, I'll ask one of the others to tell me about their memories of them. They always tell me how much they loved me."
"That's really nice."
"What about you? Have you ever asked your aunts?"
"No, just the photos. Why are you asking about that?"
He took it as a warning to back off. "You almost died. I didn't want to be the one telling your brother stories about you to remember you by. He must already dislike me anyway."
"He knows where he stands. The two of you may be the same age, but you're my friend and he's my brother. Although...you have called me 'nee-san' a couple times already."
Ienzo had to own up to it. "Well, the others at the castle are like uncles and brothers to me. You're like the sister I never had. Even when we were Nobodies, I thought that..."
"Back then I still had this instinct to look after you, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't projecting my bond with my brother onto you too. Senpai called me out on it once. Isa-kun and Lea-kun didn't seem to like it either."
"I thought it was me they didn't like."
"That may be true too, but it's not like everyone outside the castle hates you. You really don't trust anyone beyond the six of you, do you?"
"It's complicated. You know, based on what we had done. But you're right. I've led a sheltered life. When you first arrived I thought you were kind of a spaz, cutting your finger like I had by complete happenstance."
"I was nervous."
"Don't get me wrong. I liked you, but I couldn't tell you everything. I didn't want you to hate me."
"I was pretty mad when you finally did tell me, but I could never hate you or any of the others. I wasn't there, so I can't fully understand what you did or why, but I've been around you long enough that it's okay. I've gotten to know you, and based on your personalities, I never thought you were bad people."
"I've had to question that a few times myself."
"Good people have flaws and they make mistakes. You're no different."
"We knew what we were doing was wrong but went ahead with it anyway. My guilty conscience used to give me nightmares, even as a Nobody. What would my parents think? What would they have done in my place?"
"You have no way of knowing that."
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