This Was Meant to Be - P3P

This Was Meant to Be

P3P

Summary: It didn't take long for Minako to fall in love with Shinjiro. Little does she know that he's prepared to die because he's been taking the same drugs as Strega. Little does she know that finding a simple pocket watch could save his life. Little does Shinjiro know that Minako doesn't have much time left to confess her feelings . . .

***

October 4^th, 2009. That’s the day that the moon would be full. Everyone was ready to fight another shadow. Minako had even met someone who obviously hid his softer side. She found it cute, even his smile. When Shinjiro had mentioned the fact that he had lost his pocket watch, she knew she had to find it. It was obvious that it was something important to him.

October 3^rd, 2009. Minako wandered around the mall and entered the police shop. “Have you found a pocket watch?” it was a poor description, but it was the best that she could give. Mr. Kurosawa had luckily found it. For the Wild Card didn’t know that this would be the one thing that would save someone’s life.

As she walked back to the dorm, she saw Shinjiro waiting for her. She smiled at him, “Hey, want to go out for a walk?”

Her senpai smiled at her and said, “Sure. I have nothing better to do.”

On the walk Minako couldn’t help but smile, even though she knew that tomorrow was a full moon. Maybe she should have been stressed, but she couldn’t find it in her heart to be stressed about something like that at this current moment.

As they got to the shrine, the Wild Card climbed on the children’s bars that were there and found a comfortable spot to sit on them. Sticking her hand in her blazer pocket, Minako said, “Here, I found this for you.”

She watched Shinjiro take it from her hand. His hand felt warm, that’s when he coughed. A worried look came across her face, her senpai noticed that she was worried and shrugged her emotions off, “It’s nothing to worry about . . .” he then looked up at the moon, “. . . it’s how its supposed to be.”

Minako didn’t understand what he meant. She tilted her head and questioned him, “What’s meant to be? I don’t get what you’re trying to say . . .”

Shinjiro turned and looked at her and looked her in the eyes, “Keep smiling, don’t every cry. No one should ever see you cry. Ever. Just keep on smiling.”

Now she was really confused, except she didn’t say anything in response. She simply nodded her head, then they walked back to the dorm together.

October 4^th 2009. They were getting ready to defeat another large shadow. Looking around, she noticed that Shinjiro nor Ken was there. Maybe they had something to do, she decided to not let it weigh too heavily on her mind when there was an important task at hand. Twirling her javelin in her hand she smiled, “Let’s do well guys!”

Afterwards, they walked back to the dorm. That was when Akihiko had asked specifically where the two were. The look on both of Minako’s senapai meant something. They were both shocked, and then Akihiko went running with Mitsuru running after him. Deep in the Wild Card’s heart, she knew that it had something to do with Shinjiro. She ran after the two, and soon enough the others followed suit.

A gun shot. Someone had shot a gun within the Dark Hour. As soon as Minako heard it, she ran faster and faster. Her body screamed at her to stop running, to take a breath and then keep going. Her mind kept racing; she didn’t want Shinjiro to die. Not tonight, not ever. Was this what he meant last night? That he was going to die tonight? If was up to the Wild Card, she knew that she was going to stop it, no matter at what cost.

As soon as she reached where Akihiko and Mitsuru, another gunshot rang out. This time, tears began to roll down her face. Minako could hear his voice in the back of her head, telling her to keep on smiling, to never cry, to never frown. Except, she couldn’t keep on smiling. Not when something like this was happening.

Ignoring the man from Strega, Minako went to where Shinjiro was. This time, she sobbed uncontrollably. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she kept saying, she was sorry for not being able to keep on a smile for him when he most needed it. If only she had gotten there faster. She was so angry at herself for something like this happening. She wanted to tell him how much he meant to her, how much she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him. She could hear the others behind; she knew that they were upset and angry at the same time.

Suddenly she remembered something, “Someone call an ambulance!” she yelled at anyone who heard, except that’s when she remembered it was still the Dark Hour, nothing that was electric would work. No one would be able to call an ambulance in time. Gripping onto his coat, Minako whispered to Shinjiro, “Hang in there . . . we’re going to get help. Please hang in there Shinjiro . . .” again, she started to sob. There was so much she wanted to tell him, so much she wanted to share with him.

When the Dark Hour ended quickly, they phone an ambulance, which arrived on the scene quickly enough. However, the hardest part for Minako was letting go of Shinjiro’s body, so much so that the others had to pull her off him. She wanted to go with, except Akihiko and Mitsuru went instead. Maybe it was for the best, if Minako went she would just end up in tears. Besides, she was still the “new girl” even though she was the leader; it didn’t mean anything when it came to friendship. She didn’t know Shinjiro enough . . .

When they got back to the dorm, all was quiet. Wiping away her tears, Minako tried to smile, except it hurt too much. She could hear Junpei and Yukari trying to talk to her, except she wouldn’t take up on the talk; she just went straight to her room.

It was a rather hard to sleep, eventually, Minako did end up sleeping, only she cried herself to sleep. She knew she would have to deal with school tomorrow. She knew everything would be fine. Nothing would have changed . . . except for Shinjiro not being at the dorm when she arrived back from whatever she was done doing during the day.

The whispers throughout the school were annoying. Minako couldn’t take it anymore. They didn’t know anything about Shinjiro. None of them knew that he was fighting for a cause; he was fighting to save them. They all thought that he was just in some fight, that he was just some hooligan.

It was lunchtime, and still people were talking about it. As usual, she sat next to Junpei and Yukari. Minako was sick of everyone talking about it. Slamming her fist on the desk she stood up and glared at the girls who were gossiping about Shinjiro. Minako could hear Junpei and Yukari gasp, talking to each other to try to figure out what to do.

How Minako wanted to put these girls in their place. To tell them Shinjiro isn’t the guy they think he is. Except she didn’t, taking a deep breath in Minako shouted, “SHUT UP!”

The girls stood up, seeing this as a challenge. One of them chuckled and said, “What, are you in love with that trouble maker?”

Her heart faltered. Yes, she was in love with Shinjiro. She didn’t have a chance to tell him. Minako feared that she would never be able to tell him her true feelings. Her body moved without thinking. Smack! Minako’s hand stung, but the girl’s face had a red splotch of where Minako’s hand met the girl’s face. With a final glare, the Wild Card simply walked out of the classroom. As soon as the door was shut, the tears began to fall silently. Quickly, she found her way to the rooftop, where she would be able to have time to herself. She thought about skipping the rest of the day. She didn’t want to go back in there to face her teacher and the girl that she had slapped.

Looking at the leather watch, Minako noticed that there was quite some time left for lunch. Quickly, she left school and was on the train. From there, she went to the hospital. Minako knew what room Shinjiro was in. She didn’t even overhear, something deep down inside of her knew where he was.

As she reached the door, Minako noticed the sign. She knew that there wouldn’t be any visitors, but was the hospital really making sure that this sign kept people out? Right now, she didn’t care about the consequences. Quietly, she opened up the door and heard the machine that was helping Shinjiro breath.

Walking up beside the hospital bed, tears silently fell again. She held Shinjiro’s hand, “Why do people see you as a trouble maker? You aren’t! You are a good person senpai . . . I need you senpai. If you can hear me . . . please wake up!”

Nothing.

Not even the slightest twitch.

Minako took a deep breath and left the hospital and headed back to the dorm. Falling onto her bed, she let out her tears. Crying, she gripped the bed sheets, wondering what her life had come to. She never asked for any of this. Except she knew she had to keep on going. She knew that if the others saw her this wrecked, then they were hopeless. They wouldn’t be able to save people from Apathy Syndrome.

It was time to defeat Nyx. For Shinjiro. For everyone. Even if it seemed as though it was impossible, Minako knew that they would be able to do it. They had already defeated Strega. Nothing else was standing in their way.

When they thought they had defeated Nyx, the world went black. It felt as though she was in the sky. Looking around, she didn’t see anyone. Minako was alone. She was the one who had to defeat Nyx.

It was hard; it felt as if she was going to die. Minako kept gritting her teeth, there was no way she was going to give up this easily. Her leather wristwatch started to shine. Looking at the watch, she knew she had found the strength and the way to defeat Nyx. To make sure that no one would be able to something like this again.

Everything was back to normal. Minako could go on with her life as she had intended. A couple of days ago, a girl had come up to her telling her that Shinjiro had come out of the hospital. The girl even told her where he was going to be.

Deep down, she knew that this day was the last day she would have to confess her love to Shinjiro. As she walked up to the roof, she breathed heavily. She was growing so tired and weary. Upon opening up the door, there stood Shinjiro.

“Shinjiro . . .” Minako said, trying to get enough energy to even speak.

As she said her name, he turned around. Minako couldn’t help but run to him. She couldn’t help but embrace him, even if he did wince a little. “Hey, that hurt y’know!” Shinjiro gasped upon impact.

Minako looked up at the face she had missed so much and smiled, “I’m sorry. I’ve missed you so much.”

Both of them looked at each other and decided to sit down. They were both weak from what had happened. As soon as they sat down, Shinjiro embraced her, held her. Tears formed in Minako’s eyes.

Her eyes began to close. She knew that it was coming. She had to do it now. “Shinjiro, I . . . love . . . you . . .”

Except Shinjiro didn’t understand what was happening. Minako simply smiled through her tears, “I remember . . . a day when you told me that . . . this was meant to be . . .” as she said the last words she drifted to sleep. She couldn’t hear Shinjiro, but she felt as though she knew that he was crying. That he was gripping her, holding her close.

The Wild Card felt bad that she had waited until now to confess her love, but she knew that he felt the same way about her. Minako made a promise to herself.

She promised that she would watch over Shinjiro and the rest of SEES. Minako would become their guardian angel.

A Lady Never Dies

A Lady Never Dies

Summary: Short time after arriving in King’s Landing, Sansa is still grieving over her lost Lady. The Hound notices her grieving; he tries to cheer her up. A Sansa/The Hound fanfic.

Sansa was staring at the burning hearth in the Hand’s Tower. Knowing that the only passion she had was her anger towards her father for the death of Lady. Lady completed Sansa, after Lady’s death, it felt like her whole being died with her.

Except, Sansa still had to live. For she was going to be betrothed to the love of her life, Prince Joffrey Baratheon. Sansa loved the way he looked at her with his emerald eyes, they reminded her of bravery, and everything she had heard about in songs; like the knight coming to rescue the princess, or the handsome prince who would end up with the most fairest lady of them all; Sansa desired to be the fairest lady of all of King’s Landing. She wanted to be the beautiful girl that all of the ladies would be jealous of. She would wear the most beautiful dresses, accompanied with the most beautiful jewelry and headpieces.

However, in all of Sansa’s daydreams appeared her beloved lost direwolf. Lady was always by her side, well groomed and all. Lady was the most desired wolf among dogs. Lady had never misbehaved, neither in her dreams nor reality.

Suddenly, a door closed without Sansa’s knowing. She glanced over seeing her father standing in front of the closed door. Sansa stood up and greeted her father numbly, “Hello, Father.”

Ned Stark sighed, “Sansa, we need to talk about what happened on the way here.”

“There’s nothing to say. You’ve said so much already with what you did to Lady!” Sansa retorted.

“I did it for the best interest of the kingdom.” replied Ned.

“The kingdom! It was Nymeria who bit Joffrey! Not Lady. It was never her! Why should Lady have to die in Nymeria’s place?!” Sansa choked.

Ned sat down and ushered Sansa to sit next to him, “Little one, sometimes we all have to make choices for the greater good. Believe me Sansa; I didn’t want to kill Lady. I don’t want to think about what would have happened if I refused the King’s orders. You do realize that, that is a crime, yes?”

Sansa nodded, noticing herself inching closer to her father for comfort. Sansa couldn’t fight back her tears any longer. She found herself crying silently in her father’s arms, listening to his steady breathing had become soothing to her; soon enough she fell asleep.

As Sansa awoke from her slumber, she noticed her father had left her side. Entering her room, Sansa decided to put a new dress on, and wander around King’s Landing. Sansa chose a dress that was brilliant in color; it was deep emerald green with golden lace. Undoing her hair, she couldn’t figure out how she should style her hair in the dress, so she merely put on a delicate golden hair net that matched the lacing on her dress.

Sansa had found herself in the courtyard staring at the beautiful fountain and observing those who were also in the courtyard.

“Does my lady often walk on her own?” a voice chirped.

Wheeling around Sansa saw her betrothed, Joffrey, “Why, I felt like stretching my legs, so I decided to wander about the castle . . . my lord.”

Joffrey offered his hand to Sansa, accepting Sansa was led around the castle; listening to Joffrey speak, “My mother said that in time my hand will scar. Scar. Can you believe that? A king should never have scars. His skin should be flawless, just like a beautiful gem.”

“Perhaps, my lord. However, I think that scars show bravery and strength.” Sansa whispered.

Joffrey suddenly stopped in place, forced Sansa’s hand off of his,  “Funny. I don’t remember asking your opinion my lady.”

A deep sinister fire had started to emerge within Sansa. Remembering what her father had told her about his decision with Lady; Sansa replied, “You are right, my lord. Please, forgive me; for I have spoken out of turn.” The words choked out of Sansa, but she knew she had to apologize, for this was the boy she is to marry, and be his Queen.

It didn’t stop at Joffrey’s retort however. Without a signal, Sansa felt a hard smack across her face, and she fell to the ground in shock. She somehow lost her ability to breathe; her hand instinctively went to her cheek. She looked up at Joffrey, dumbfounded.

Joffrey looked down on her, “I don’t expect just an apology. I expect hands and feet on the ground, begging for forgiveness. However, I’ll let you go with just a slap this time.” With the threat fresh in Sansa’s mind, Joffrey stomped off, leaving Sansa on the ground.

“That is not very lordly of the young prince now is it?” rasped a voice. A voice that Sansa had begun to fear.

Sansa looked up seeing The Hound, “No . . . it isn’t ser.”

The Hound scoffed, “I’m no knight my lady.”

The title “lady” echoed in her head. However, it wasn’t as a title, she saw her Lady, her friend.

“Lady” Sansa murmured.

“That indeed you are.” The Hound said sarcastically. “Perhaps, I could help the lady up, as she is still sitting on the ground?” He offered her his hand.

Sansa stared at him, “Why yes. That’s very generous of you . . . “ she was going to give him a title, but The Hound could sense that she was, and glared at her.

When Sansa had her feet on the ground, The Hound asked, “Is my lady all right?”

Sansa just stared at him, “Please use no formalities with me, since you won’t let me. I despise the word lady.”

The Hound stared at her in shock, “Bugger that then. Why do you dislike the word ‘lady’ so much? You sound like the runt.”

Sansa didn’t understand who ‘the runt’ was until she realized The Hound was talking about her younger sister, Arya. Sansa knew she couldn’t leave him waiting in a question that he wanted answered, “Lady was my direwolf. She was so kind and-“

“Bugger that. I’m sorry I asked.” The Hound interrupted. As he was about to leave, he felt a hand grab a piece of his clothing, as if it were a child not wanting their parent to leave their side. Wheeling around, he noticed that Sansa looked straight into his eyes, something that she rarely ever does.

“Please. No one understands what I’m going through.” Sansa pleaded.

The Hound sighed, “No one understands me neither. I guess we got somethin’ in common, eh?”

Sansa rolled her eyes, “I wish to talk to you somewhere more private. Somewhere no one would expect me to go.”

“Perhaps we could go to the brothel? No, Baelish owns most of ‘em. There’s this tree, it’s dead, including everything around it. It’s in the poor area, but no one would ever expect a Stark to be there. Don’t wear anythin’ too fancy. You’ll stick out.” The Hound explained.

Night had approached King’s Landing, everyone was going home, eating dinner with their families, and quieting down; to sleep. However, Sansa was preparing to meet The Hound. She put on a simple brown dress, with a hood over her head to hide her identity.

Sansa had found it easy sneaking out of the Hand’s Tower; almost too easy. “So this is how Arya feels, she can get around with breeze disguised as a poor girl . . . well boy in her case.” Sansa concluded. No one ever gave a glance her way, as she passed by. It was almost as if she were invisible.

Upon reaching the dead tree Sansa had noticed that The Hound was already there. However, he was asleep in his drunken stupor. Sansa didn’t know what to do with the sleeping drunk. She was afraid that if she wakens him from his sleep, then he would kill her. Sansa decided on sitting next to him, she gagged upon smelling him, he smelled of all sorts of alcohol.

The silence didn’t last long though. Soon enough The Hound woke up, slightly drunk, “Little bird, sing measong.” His words still seemed slurred, although Sansa was still able to slightly understand him.

Sansa looked at him with her soft eyes, “I shan’t sing you a song. However, I shall tell you tale. A tale about Lady.”

The Hound rolled his drunken head to look at her, “Alady?”

“No, Lady. The nicest direwolf that lived.” Sansa corrected.

 

She had told him the tale of her beloved direwolf, and how she was unlike her littermates, and all Lady ever wanted to do was to be beside Sansa. Some points in the story The Hound would appear to be displeased with Sansa’s story, nonetheless, he still listened. Listened, and understood her pain in losing something. He listened when no one else did.

Even after The Hound had listened to Sansa’s tale, he still sat there. Then, he did something that Sansa didn’t refuse, their lips met; it was almost as if they needed no direction. It happened so fast, but to them, it felt like a lifetime.

After the kiss had ended, The Hound sighed, “Lit’l birdlets look atthe stars.”

Ignoring her newfound love’s drunken slurs, Sansa looked up at the stars, staring at all of the constellations, and she suddenly felt something. Looking over at her shoulder, she noticed that The Hound had passed out drunk, resting his head on her shoulder.

Smiling gently, Sansa went back to looking at the stars. She saw something out of the corner of her eye. It was a familiar shape; it was someone who she had been longing to see. “Lady,” Sansa whispered. Sansa silently cursed about how she was trapped where she was due to The Hound’s head resting on her shoulder. Sansa could only watch Lady’s ghost.

Sansa breathed in, “A lady never dies. Lady, please-“

Before Sansa could even finish her sentence, Lady disappeared, as well as The Hound’s drunkenness. The Hound woke up, “Whom were you talking to?”

Sansa looked at him, “No one, it was just a ghost. A ghost of the past.”