[Deafening gun fire made his ears ring with an annoying buzz. His senses were being overwhelmed. He felt off balanced, but held his gun with the best control he could muster from his sweaty hands.
"Ishikawa! Run!" Kou heard Yuri's warning.
It was followed by sounds of a ripping explosion. Blinding white flashes, invoking searing pain to his eyes.
"Ugh!" Kou stumbled backwards.
His trigger finger accidentally released bullet rounds into the air. Smoking hot shells fell around his body. He yelped at the burning pain he felt to his right arm from a bullet shell on his skin.
In a mad, blind panic, driven by burning pain, he scrambled to his feet. Sprinting with every last bit of his breath in his lungs. The sky cracked open. It threw down rain to temper his sprints. His heavy boots sunk into the sandy terrain he was trying to escape.
White flashes. Burning pain. His eyes were struck again. He lost complete sense and vision of where he was running. He ran on. Blind. Then is body went into a state of shock and numbness.]
---
"Mei!" Kou woke from his nightmare screaming with blind terror that contorted his features and drenched his body in a cold sweat.
"Ishikawa-san!" A stranger's voice tried to soothe his fears with reassuring strokes to his arm and face.
The hand felt smooth, yet solid and large with long fingers that were slightly calloused to the tips. They were definitely not the hands of his mother.
"W-Who, are you? Y-You're not my mother." Kou gasped. Still finding his voice from his breathlessness.
His hands fumbled about his darkness to form a better picture of those hands and arms connected to them.
Indistinct light moved about his darkness. He lacked taction to determine what he should be seeing. His hands continued to seek out a form he could feel and make sense of. They came into contact with the arms belonging to the man's hands he felt earlier.
They were also smooth with little hair and slender, but not like a woman's. There was taut muscle to their biceps, betraying hidden strength. The smell of freshly cut material lingered about the soft sleeves of a kimono he felt. Smells of cooked vegetables, starch rice and body musk surrounded his senses.
"You're a man and I'm in your home?" Kou blurted his discovery. An image was being drawn in his mind as his fingers felt more of the man and immediate surroundings.
He gasped with surprise when the man pulled his hands forward, and he felt the fleshy softness of the man's cheeks, the oval outline of his jawline, round eyes, slender nasal bridge and medium-size ears free from any piercings. The man's hair was long, smooth as silk and smelt of fresh flowers.
Kou's image of him was a beautiful and effeminate man. His heart raced with confusion as to why he was lying on his bed. At least he felt the firmness of a futon mattress and woven wool blanket.
"I'm not on your bed, am I?" Kou gulped nervously.
"Yes, but don't worry, I won't be sleeping in here. Please rest. I will inform your mother."
The man's voice carried a soft almost melodic tone that held care and confidence without any quivers or undertones to suggest a hidden intention. He was a genuine kind man.
Seeing people's hidden intentions through the tones of their voices was a skill Kou had been able to immediately take advantage of with his given disadvantage.
"No. Please, don't tell my mother. If it's not too much trouble I can sleep here for now and leave when I wake again." Kou asked, banking on the hope the man would agree.
"If that's what you want, of course." The man responded with the same tone of voice as before.
Kou sighed with relief. He didn't want to trouble his mother more than he already did. She was having a hard enough time trying to come to terms with his blindness as a result from war injury.
A thought of Mei-san entered his mind.
"Instead, it wouldn't be too much trouble to call for Sakamoto, Mei. She's my fiancé."
"Of course, she'd be more than happy and relieved to see you are well." The man answered with tighter tones to his voice, betraying excitement.
"You know Mei?" Kou frowned with worry.
His heart ached to know who this man was and how he knew Mei. He certainly wasn't a man he had met before.
A thought of Eiji Takaki's envelope flashed to this mind. Yuri had been carrying it in his pocket since his return from Pearl Harbor. He had accompanied Yuri to the house of Eiji's widow; sensed Yuri hand the letter to a man. They left shortly afterwards. The only memory of the person at that time was the soft almost melodic tones of their voice.
"You're Takaki's wife?" Kou innocently blurted and stiffen at the instant silence and sensation of shock he felt from the man.
"Hmm. Is it too much to ask, what made you wander about in the rain to end up at my house?" The man changed the subject with a curt tone to his voice.
He was angry?
"I don't know. I have bad sleep, sometimes." Kou carefully answered.
Silence ensued with the distinct sound of children playing games or laughing, a woman's humming, movements of pots and items and the steady beating of rain on the roof.
"You have a lot of children. Are you married?" Kou blurted his discovery again.
The man sighed. "No, I'm not married nor do I have children of my own. They are evacuees I'm taking care of.
"My name is Chikafuji, Hinata." Hinata properly introduced himself.
"Chikafuji-kun. Oh, Dai-chan's nephew. I heard you came from the big city." Kou innocently shared his knowledge of what he knew of Hinata from his mother's gossip.
"Yes, that's me." Hinata's voice was calm and void of his earlier anger.
"Thank you for understanding me Hinata. I can call you Hinata? I feel we're already friends. Call me Kou." Kou daringly asked Hinata and chuckled at his sigh.
Hinata relented and gave him the okay. He made an excuse to leave Kou's side by going to retrieve Mei-san.
Kou slumped back down on Hinata's futon, relishing the fresh scent of lavender from the blankets and sheets. They carried a cozy feeling of warmth and care. He realized he was fortunate that Hinata had stumbled upon him. He frowned with worry that he was sleep walking again.
Sleep claimed him without him realizing it.
He woke to the sound of Mei-san's voice near his bedside. His heart raced with feelings of wanting to hold her. His regret going to war was never telling Mei-san how much he loved her, letting her believe she wasn't anything special to him. Today was going to be the day he changed that view.
"Mei?" He called out to her, raising his hands to seek out her face.
"I'm here." Her voice quivered with tears and tones of happiness.
He smiled with relief that he was still in her heart. His hands felt her face and stroked her moistened cheeks tenderly. The room was filled with silence. The sounds of others being present were vague and distant. Hinata was truly a kind man.
"I love you Mei. Thank you very much for waiting for me," Kou whispered words of love from his heart.
His chest became warm like his heart had caught on fire when drops of her tears landed on his hands. He drew her lips towards his in a kiss that led to further passionate touches from both of them.
"Kou-san." Mei-san swooned. Speaking his name when his mouth found her pleasure spots along her skin.
He loved her with his whole being; holding back enough, so they didn't go all the way. Once they were married, he would make sure he pampered her to the best of his abilities. She was his queen. He was keen to make up for all those times he left her doubting his love for her.
"I'm sorry, I was a jerk before I went to war," Kou whispered, as he held her small body in his arms, relishing her sweet scent.
"You did leave me doubting." Mei-san lightly scolded him. Her voice betrayed too much happiness at having her love reciprocated.
Her happiness became shaky tones of fear. He felt her gaze on his eyes.
"You don't need to fear Mei. I was lucky to survive this war with every other part of my body intact. I'll live the rest of my life not bound to this disability. I'll find a way for both of us to live a comfortable life." Kou reassured her with cocky confidence and a tender kiss to her forehead.
"Chikafuji-san said that Honda-san had books that used fingers to read," Mei-san said.
Kou frowned, not liking the fact that she had a closeness to Hinata. "How close are you and Hinata?"
Mei-san surprised him by bursting with hearty laughter. She was happy beyond measure.
"Obviously not as close as you and him," she answered with a narky pinch to his arm. "I should be the one jealous here that you're already on first name bases with Chikafuji-san"
Kou chuckled and dropped his tension. His thoughts went back to his earlier memories. He was blank between the time he fell asleep in his room to when he woke up to Hinata's bedroom.
His heart felt tight and strange feelings plagued his mind, causing twitches to hands. He did his best to calm them down when he sensed Mei-san's concern through the uneven expel of her breath. They were having a happy moment, he didn't want to spoil it.
A polite knock on the door broke through his thoughts. Another man called out to them.