Eros. (Benimaru Shinmon)

三十一❁

Year 197

The stark smell of bleach was overwhelming.  I scrunched my eyes at the bright light that was sipping through my closed eyelids.  I felt powerless and heavy. I could not move my hand, my head, or my body.

I slowly started blinking, desperately trying to open my eyes and see what's around me. Where am I? As blinding light slowly subsided I could take a look around my surroundings. I was at the hospital.

The room was pristine clean and gloomy. Typical hospital bed, IV and monitors beeping. The walls were a sickly green color and the linens were grayish. The place looked nothing like a room where a patient should be motivated to get better. If anything the murky room was making me even more nauseous.

"I see you are finally up," someone said.

I slowly picked up my body and looked down at my leg to see the metal rod and the wound gone. I turned towards a tall female with boyish short-black hair, light eyes, and long eyelashes, Kayoko Huang, Special Fire Force Company 6 Captain and mentor when I accepted the position back in 196.

"It was quite the wound you had there, the fire defense agency worker really saved your life."

Fire Defense Agency...Obi...

"It would be best for me to tell him that you are okay considering that he has been coming by for the past three days checking in on you," she said, "Probably can lessen the number of tasks I have today-it was quite annoying to keep on telling him about your status."

She left the room and I sighed and pushed my head back down. My figure lay limply against the headboard of the bed as I longingly stared out the window. I wanted to escape this prison of a hospital, where I was confined. I wanted to be with Akira and Ichijiro. I just had to be on that bus during that day...

I looked down at my leg that I vividly remember had a large metal rod sticking through it and bent it slightly and cringed. She fixed the flesh wound but the physical trauma was still there. All I could do was stay here. My eyes were unfocused, staring at the ceiling, as I lied deep in thought about the memories I had when I had faded to the unconscious-the memories about my life back in Asakusa and the memories I had shared with Benimaru...

I chuckled a bit at his name. "If Benimaru saw me like this...he probably would have told me reasons why I should have been a housewife."

I felt the familiar sting of tears welling up in my eyes as I tried his best to relax my sore body. I tried to wipe my eyes but found my arms hurt too much to be brought up that high to reach my face. I felt pathetic. If I had felt helpless back when I couldn't save Akira's father, then waking up in the hospital was the lowest feeling I could ever recall having.

Three days I was out...that was a long time. I was soon pulled out of my thoughts when I heard a knock at the door of my room. I jumped, shaking my head quickly at a failed attempt to brush the tears from my face. The door opened before I could even say anything and for a moment I did not dare look up at who it was, assuming it would be one of Kayoko's subordinates coming to do whatever it was hospital staff did with patients like me.

"You're finally awake." A deep, yet awkward, voice muttered from the doorway.

My head slowly turned to face my guest. It took him a moment to focus on the large, unruly dark-haired with sides shaven man standing before me. I squinted, suddenly realizing that he had his Fire Defense Agency uniform on-different from the outfit he from the bus accident-meaning he just came from work to check on me.

"Can I sit down?" Akitaru asks carefully, hesitant in case I freak out or do know who he was but I remembered him clearly.

I nodded, finding his movements to be very sluggish as I looked at him moving to sit beside my bed. Once he was close enough, I could vaguely make out some more prominent features on him-his small dark eyes.

"Obi, Akitaru...right?" I asked cautiously, remembering him.

"Using my surname first, are you a proto-nationalist or something?" he questioned.

I swallowed, finding his throat incredibly sore and dry before letting out a weak cough.

"Why are you here?" I asked countering.

There was a pregnant silence, as though he was thinking of an answer. I noticed that he had look away from me for a moment, his dark eyes scanning the room while he spoke, "Just wanted to talk to you for a bit. Is that okay?"

"What about?"

An uncomfortable silence filled the room as Obi did not know what to say to that extremely vague question. The sounds of the machines connected to me filled the sterile space and I found my exhaustion catching up with me. Regardless of the fact that I had 72 hours of sleep, I found it growing more difficult to keep my eyes open in front of my unusual guest and allowed myself a small yawn.

"An incident took place after the bus incident and I wanted your opinon on what it means to be a fire soldier?"

I was a bit thrown away by the question. That question was quite broad considering the situation. I closed my eyes and thought about how to answer it.

"In my town, prior to me joining the Fire Force, people said my dreams were crazy and they even laugh at me because of the way I looked or what they thought I could do, which was nothing-so I remained that way. Because, what they failed to understand was calling my dream- to join a force to put an end to infernalization - was not an insult in my eyes, it was a compliment. So because of it, I didn't try to be the strongest person in my town and boast my skills, I tried to be the strongest to the best of my abilities and worked around their image of me. I vocalized my dream to the leaders of my town's fire brigade before they because notarized in the Fire Force and they rejected me and laughed at me. But when I showed the strongest man that I was able to stand my own, he prevented me even more from joining the brigade all because he loved me. I was about to reconsider my whole dream to go in line with his expectations of being his housewife...but the day our town suffered an influx of Infernals in one night-I realized what he was doing. I believe he didn't love me the way I love him...he was using his love to weaken me and I didn't realize this until someone close to me father died and he knocked me out, preventing me from helping him and the Brigade. If I had the physiical strength to help his father or was even allowed to fight alongside him, I probably would have remained in that town and been his wife with probably 4 children and a fifth on the way but that didn't happen. At the end of it all, I was given an ultimatum and I chose the latter and never looked back it since. So I guess I became a fire solder believing in my own power to find peace in this world, to minimize the possibility of infernalizing, and to stop whoever is causing this trouble, sacrificing a peaceful life for myself. But that is just me-so don't ask what it means to be a fire soldier-instead ask yourself why you should become a fire soldier. From the way you acted back when we were in the bus accident, you definitely have the skills of having your own company and becoming a captain."

He seemed at lost for words once I told him that. I could hear Obi take in a sharp breath.

"I am in the ending stages of starting my Fire Force Company" Akitaru claimed, "I too will fight to find an end to human combustion. I refuse to sit back and do nothing while the world burns around me. Since I am near the ending stages, will you help me and become an ally when my company is active?"

"My unit is there to assist any and all company's that need it, therefore, I will be automatically be an ally to your cause," I said with a small smile as I looked at him, seeing the determination in his eyes, "Besides, a soldier like yourself, who cherishes life above all else, are needed in this organization."

I turned my head towards the window to see the sunset.

Life is both as simple and as beautiful as every sunset while also being as delicate and as sacred. When we look out into the sun, the sunset is our reminder that yes indeed, everything will be alright. As it disappears, so do our problems of the day , and  as it reappears a brand new ,  it's a new opportunity to become a better you. As a Fire Soldier, we should cherish life above all others and fight to give people the opporuniity to live for another sunset.