From Distant Lands - Juro's Return

Chapter Fifteen

The next day, I meet Shiori at the hospital early in the morning, opting to wear one of Katsuki's sweatshirts over a pair of my favorite ripped jeans and stopping off to get Shiori's favorite tea alongside my own cup of coffee.

"How is he?" I ask when I enter our father's room, passing her the cup with her name on it. Shiori smiles gratefully at me before taking a sip.

"Same as every other day so far..." she tells me and I sigh, taking a seat in the chair across from hers.

"Damn idiot..." I mutter, shaking my head.

"He can still hear you, you know" Shiori says and I make a face somewhere between anger and sadness.

"Good. The old man should know by now..." I reply, but part of me still feels bad. My dad's lost so much in the last six years... how can I blame him?

"Kaida... can I ask you a question?" Shiori wonders, voice a bit on the timid side. I look up at her, one eyebrow raised suspiciously.

"Yes?" I allow, unsure of what to expect.

"After Mom died... did you..." she pauses, trying to put her words together the right way and I wait patiently, searching her face.

"When you and I were fighting in high school... you kept saying you were cleaning up after Dad... I didn't think about it much then because I never realized... I mean" she clears her throat.

"Was he always this bad? Is this what you meant...?" she asks me finally, expression serious. I swallow, looking away from her and back at our sleeping father's face as I remember those first few months especially. He'd never stopped breathing before, but passing out drunk? Drinking bottles of liquor like water? Drowning himself in his own depression?

"He was... I guess I just thought he'd gotten better..." I reply quietly, thankful for the sweater around me that smells so much like Katsuki that it almost convinces me he's here.

"And you dealt with all of that alone... why?" Shiori asks me, a million questions in her eyes. I take a steadying breath, shaking my head.

"You were already dealing with so much... I could see you trying to hold everything together like always, so I handled the things you couldn't. I took care of him so you didn't have to worry about another thing going wrong... honestly, I thought it was better for you to think he'd just become a sad shell of himself than for you to know how much he was destroying everything. I didn't think it was fair I guess..." I admit, earning a look.

"Kaida" Shiori begins, but I stop her there.

"Listen, it'd be different if all of this happened later in life, but we were just kids, Shiori. Both of us suddenly had the weight of the world on our shoulders and neither of us knew how to cope, hence the great divide many moons ago" I say, managing to get a small smile out of her.

"Yeah... I guess you're right" she replies and both of us fall quiet for a moment, staring at our father and likely both thinking the same things. When will he wake up? Does he know we're here? Doesn't he know we still need him around? Our father hasn't exactly been a pillar of support over the last few years, but that hardly matters. He's still our dad and after all we've lost already, losing him would create just another gaping hole that neither of us knows how to close.

"Miss Ito?" a gentle voice asks as a few light knocks sound at the door. Both Shiori and I look up as a doctor walks inside, brows raising when she sees both of us.

"Oh, good morning" she says, wearing a kind smile. My sister and I both nod in greeting.

"Morning" I say.