Effects of The Sorrowed

She rubbed her eyes and yawned before staring at the ceiling for a long time. ‘It’s awfully bright out…’ She thought with another yawn before rolling sleepily over and glancing at her alarm clock. “Ah!” She exclaimed, “I’m late again! Stupid alarm!” She yelled, throwing her covers off of her and all but falling out of bed. She threw off her pajamas and threw on her school clothes before running a brush through her hair and running downstairs. She grabbed a poptart, her bag and slipped on her shoes before she took off outside towards school. She rushed inside and up to her classroom. She threw open the door, stopping her teacher mid-lecture. “I-I’m so sorry I’m late!” She said, her cheeks warm from all the attention. “It’s nice of you to join us, Mizara.” The teacher, Orima, said - it sounded nice but it was obviously sarcasm. “Take a seat so that we can continue.” She said before glancing back at her teacher’s book. Mizara nodded and looked over to where her seat was but there was a boy in her seat, he had brown unkempt hair and blue eyes. He hadn’t even looked when she came into the room, he was staring out of the window. ‘Who’s he? He’s gorgeous...he reminds me of…no...that’s not possible.’ She thought she couldn’t help but grimace before she glanced back at the teacher. “Um, Ms. Orima...my seat is...um…” Mizara trailed off. Orima looked up at the boy and her brows rose. “Oh, right, I didn’t know if you would be joining us today, for today you can stand at the back of the class, we’ve not got an extra desk yet.” Orima said before looking back down at her book. The boy glanced up and saw the measly looking girl staring at the back of the classroom, looking very discouraged. “You can have your seat back, I’ll stand.” He said, his voice was like velvet. Mizara blinked. “Are you sure? I don’t want to come off rude…” Mizara said unsurely. “It’s your seat, it’s fine, I need to stretch my legs anyway.” He said. Mizara felt her cheeks get warm again. “O-Okay.” Mizara said seeing that there was no point in arguing with the boy, he’d already gotten up and moved all his things. She headed over to her seat and sat down as the boy leaned against a wall in the back of the classroom. She couldn’t help but glance back at the boy. She felt bad for making him stand but she didn’t think arguing with him would bring them any solution. “As I was saying...a common recurring pattern of the english culture is...what? Can anybody tell me…?” Orima continued. Mizara tried to focus but the boy’s appearance was unsettling. She went through the rest of the school day half-distracted. It’d been so long...she was at her locker putting away her books when she felt a tap on her shoulder. She turned to see who it was. ‘The boy from earlier…’ “Hey, just wanted to apologize for stealing your seat, kind of felt bad - even though I ended up giving it back but still…” The boy said with a shrug. Mizara offered a smile. “It’s fine, I wasn’t there so I didn’t have a say, I would’ve let you keep it…” Mizara said “It’s not polite to let a lady stand.” The boy said. Mizara felt her cheeks get warm. “I mean, I would have deserved it for being late...hehe…” Mizara said, offering a sheepish laugh. His eyes seemed to burn into her for a moment. “I’m Hideki Kaoru.” The boy said with a slight bow. “Nice to meet you, Hideki-san, I’m Tachin Mizara.” Mizara said, offering her own little bow. “I’ll see you around.” Kaoru said with a little wave and a small smile before he turned to walk away. Mizara offered a wave. “Yeah, see you!” Mizara said before finishing putting away the unnecessary things in her locker and taking the necessary ones. Mizara adjusted her bag on her shoulder as she headed home feeling down. ‘I can’t believe I was late again...I wish someone would have woken me up like Uncle Yamatoru or even Sakuto...but no one did, not even my alarm.’ Mizara thought with a little pout. ‘The resemblance is...uncanny…’ Mizara thought as she neared her house, she paused outside of the gate to her home and looked up at the clouds. It was a sunny day, it was relatively warm out. ‘How long has it been…? I stopped counting the days...it hurt too much…’ Mizara thought before looking back at the gate and heading in. “I’m home…” Mizara said awfully lackluster.  “Welcome home, how was school?” A familiar voice came from around the corner. Mizara paused in the process of removing her shoes. “Takuto?!” Mizara exclaimed as she darted around the corner to see her cousin Takuto, he was older than her and a decent amount of years older than her but they’d always been close. He had brown combed back hair and green eyes, she flung her arms around him. He looked very mature and very grim. Mizara felt her heart race. She was familiar with that face. “What are you doing here?’ Mizara asked, her defenses immediately put back up. “Awe, you make me feel so unwanted…” Takuto said, pretending to wipe a tear from his eye, a playful smile creeping up on his lips. “Of course you’re wanted!” Mizara said quickly. “I decided it was time to come see my favorite cousin.” Takuto said, ruffling her hair. Mizara’s brows furrowed and her lips formed a pout. “That’s cute, now why did you really come here? It’s not like you to just drop in out of the blue just to see me…” Mizara said, feeling her anxiety bubble. “Okay, you got me...you might want to sit down…” Takuto said, grabbing a chair from the kitchen table they were standing next to. Mizara felt her stomach drop before she hesitantly sat in the chair Takuto pulled out. Takuto grabbed another chair and sat beside her. Mizara knew the minute that she saw him that something bad had happened. “What happened?” Mizara squeaked. ‘This is what happened when he told me about...no, I can’t think about that…’ Mizara thought. Takuto grimaced. “Ah, okay...well, uncle Yamatoru was found passed out at work...they called the ambulance and had him admitted, the thing is, there was no explanation for his unconsciousness...all his vitals were normal, they pegged it as a stroke…but, he didn’t um...he didn’t make it...” Takuto said unevenly. “What?” Mizara said, her head was buzzing and his words made no sense for a minute. Uncle Yamtoru was dead? “But..he was so young…” Mizara mumbled after she processed the words for a minute. His last two sentences repeated in her head and her eyes shot over to him. “But...you don’t think that that’s what it was...do you?” Mizara asked registering the way he said it. ‘They pegged it as a stroke…’ The words repeated in her head a few times. Takuto was silent. Her stomach turned and her heart had dropped. “Why, why is this happening?” Mizara mumbled. “This isn’t fair! First mom and dad, then grandpa and grandma and now Uncle Yamatoru?!” Mizara exclaimed, her shaky hands rising to her temples and her fingers burying themselves in her blonde hair. She gritted her teeth, her eyes watered and she began feeling an anger rise in her. Suddenly, it was like a gate fell and she was numb. Her hands dropped from her hair and her jaw relaxed. “Are you okay, Mizu?” Takuto asked carefully. Mizara said nothing, instead she stared off into the distance. The silence seemed to last forever before Mizara finally spoke. “So...my uncle...is...dead…?” Mizara said stiffly. “Along with my mom, my dad, my grandma, my grandpa, and Kaido…” Mizu said with no emotion. “Mizu…”Takuto said, extending his arm to his cousin. Mizu looked back at her cousin, her eyes flooded with tears, a wave of anger, loss, pain, suffering, and sorrow overtook her eyes. What scared Takuto was the fact that although her eyes were watering, she didn’t cry or bawl, she laughed hysterically. This both frightened Takuto and saddened him. “Mizu, dear, sweet Mizu…” Takuto said quietly, his heart almost breaking in two for his little cousin. She laughed for two minutes, although it felt like an eternity, before she stopped and looked at her cousin again, this time exhaustion was plastered on her face. “Takuto...my dear cousin…” Mizu said before throwing herself into her cousin’s arms. “Please don’t leave me...please...I’m begging you, you’re one of my closest family members and one of the only ones left. Please, stay with me…” Mizu sobbed gripping at her cousin's shirt. “I won’t...I promise…” Takuto said, wrapping his arms around Mizu. “I’m home!” A voice rang from the front door. Mizu and Takuto looked in the direction of the door before Sakuto walked around the corner. She glanced down at Mizu and Takuto and she saw how exhausted Mizu looked. “Oh, hey Taku, um...what’s going on?” Sakuto asked, looking at her twin expectantly. Takuto looked down at Mizu - who’d looked down at the ground - and then back at his twin. Sakuto tucked her perfectly silky straight brown hair behind her ear, her green eyes locked on her twin. “Why is she crying?” Sakuto asked. Takuto took a deep breath as Mizu curled back into his chest. “You might want to sit down, sis…” Takuto said. Sakuto’s small smile that she wore suddenly disappeared as she grabbed a chair and sat down facing her twin. “So...Uncle Yomatoru was found passed out at work and taken to the hospital immediately but he didn’t make it…” Takuto said  solemnly. Sakuto’s gaze fell to the ground as her eyes watered “He was only 40 though, Taku…” Sakuto whispered, her eyes overflowing with tears now. “That’s not fair…” Sakuto gasped before covering her face with her hands, she was fully crying now.  “What are we supposed to do? Where are we supposed to go?” Mizu croaked after she’d taken time to cry and calm down. Her voice quivered with the threat of more tears.  “I’m not able to afford this without him…” Sakuto sniffled. “I don’t want to move back in with dad and where would Mizu go?” Sakuto sobbed. “I can afford this place…” Takuto said he'd gotten a part time job a few summers ago and was making decent money from it. “I could talk to dad and explain to him…” Takuto said, his voice cracked a little bit, he hated seeing girls cry, it made him want to cry but he had to be strong for them. “But Taku, what about dad?” Sakuto asked. “He’ll be fine, I’m sure he’d appreciate his own space again. I can just take over the mortgage here until you two are able to get out on your own…” Takuto said, grabbing his twin's hand and rubbing it reassuringly. “Are you sure he’ll be okay?” Sakuto asked, wiping her tears. “I’m sure.” Takuto said. Sakuto shifted her green eyes to Takutos and studied them for a long time before nodding and wiping her nose. “Okay...I’ll call dad…” Sakuto said with a deep breath in the attempt to build the courage and motivation to call. She pushed herself with effort to her feet and moped to the landline phone that sat on an adjacent wall before dialing her father's number. She put the phone to her ear and listened to it ring for a minute before a man with a gruff voice picked up and greeted her. “Daddy?” Sakuto sniffled. “Yes, it’s me, Sakuto...no, I’ll be okay...yes, I heard about Uncle Yamatoru...Uh-huh...Mizu isn’t taking it too well...and neither of us have money to buy this place out...I know, but see, our solution is Takuto...yeah...is that going to be okay...he’s with Mizu...he’s comforting her...no, of course not...are you sure you’ll be okay…? You know I still love you, despite what happened...I know...so, yeah, you have to transfer him...I know...What do we do until then…? They’ll take us away unless we have a guardian...well, we are old enough to move out, it’s just we don’t have the money and Mizu is younger...I’ve been thinking about it...of course not...jeez...okay...alright...I might have to come and get them...I know you still need to talk to him but Mizu needs him right now...Okay, thank you. Bye.” Sakuto finished her phone call and wiped a few more stray tears. “I’m going to get your stuff but dad still needs to talk to you he said…” Sakuto said, hanging up the phone and heading back to Mizu and Takuto. “Of course he does…” Takuto growled, rolling his eyes. “He can wait.” Takuto said with a sigh. “Right...I really don’t want to do this…” Sakuto mumbled biting her lip. “I know, but...she’s a part of his life now so…” Takuto said, his eyes on his sister. Sakuto rolled her own eyes now. “Yeah, yeah…” Sakuto said before heading out to retrieve Takuto’s stuff. It wasn’t long before Mizu and Takuto were alone in the house. “It’s okay, we’re in this together…” Takuto said. “We’ll be okay…” Takuto said. “It’ll get easier.” “I hope so..” Mizu mumbled. A majority of the time that Sakuto had left them with, they had spent curled up on the couch. Mizu didn’t feel like doing anything and Takuto wasn’t going to push it.