Everything Changes

Hanakatoba And Azalea

Amanda, Casey, and George arrived to the hospital very quickly and were led to a curtained-off area of the ER to find Hanakatoba Kano sitting up on a bed and wearing a cloth hospital gown. Her skin was marked up with various bruises and scrapes, but she was also hooked up to a few different monitors, and some of her wounds were already wrapped up in gauze bandages.

As for Hanakatoba's legs, except for a scraped knee, her left leg was fine, but the right one was propped up on a pillow, and in Amanda's opinion, its very swollen and bright red state in the ankle area suggested that it was actually broken instead of sprained. Hanakatoba also looked like she'd been crying and only just stopped, but when she saw Casey, she offered her the smallest of smiles.

"I'm so glad to see you, Case—my parents have been contacted, but they're on their way over from Chelsea, and yours are coming from Woodlawn, so they might be awhile."

"Hana, I'm so happy that you called me, and I'm so sorry for what happened to you and Zay."

"Thank you." The young woman was definitely upset, but she didn't express it the way most people did because she processed and felt emotion a little differently. " Who are your friends?"

Casey indicated her companions in turn. "These are two of mine and Rafael's colleagues, Doctor George Huang and Detective Amanda Rollins."

Hanakatoba was polite enough, considering what she'd just been through, but she was wary of George.

"I don't mean to be rude, but are you here to talk to me or Azalea?"

"Azalea, but you're welcome to have a chat with me whenever you like, if you feel the need."

Hanakatoba found comfort in that mostly because she had been raised by immigrant parents from Japan and she was the first person in her family to be born in the states. As much as she loved her parents and as much as they meant well, they believed in things like not spilling your woes to any kind of doctor. Doctor Huang was trustworthy, and Hanakatoba liked that, plus he was a friend of Casey's.

Amanda stepped forward with her pen and notepad at the ready. "Do you prefer Hana or Hanakatoba?"

"Well, 'round about everyone calls me Hana, so you can, too."

"Okay, Hana. Can you take us through what happened?"

And so Hanakatoba told the Amanda and the others about how she and Azalea had been walking through the park together because it was their first day off together in awhile, when all of a sudden, a crazy-looking man popped out of the bushes on the side of the trail and began ranting and raving about how they'd gotten too close to 'his part of the park.' Azalea was held at knifepoint while Hanakatoba was forced to run away without looking back. She didn't want to leave her fiancée behind, she also didn't want to upset the stranger further, so she turned tail and ran.

Unfortunately, she tripped on a tree root and tumbled all the way down a hill on the side of the path. When she came to a stop, she was on the bank of the water, bleeding and broken.

Amanda spoke first when the story was done, holding out an iPad mini to her with a picture on the screen. "Is this him?"

The picture was a mugshot of her father.

Hanakatoba didn't need looking at it twice. "Yeah, that's him. He had a southern accent just like yours; are you his daughter?"

"Yes."

The young woman sighed, wishing that that could have at least surprised her. "I hope you catch him soon. Have I helped?"

"In a great way, and you survived today. That's what matters most."