Plurk paste

She stared death in the face only once before.

The cacophony around her made it difficult for Asuna to think, feeling as though the tiny room might close in further around them. The rhythmic pulse of the heart monitor, the whirr of the oxygen pump and the deep breaths behind it, the pages over the intercom in the hallway, and the beeps and clicks of at least a half dozen other machines, all attached to the man lying next to her, started to blend together after a while. She tried to tune all of it out, wanting to focus on nothing else but his hand resting in hers. Though he tried to squeeze, she could barely feel it. Those hands had been strong once, when they taught her to fish in the lake a short walk from the house or when they pulled apart oranges to share as they sat on the back porch. Though he'd grown weaker in recent years, her grandfather faded rapidly when his wife passed unexpectedly a month earlier.

Grandmother's death felt like a shot when Asuna's mother told her when she arrived home from school on that terrible day. Her family dropped all of their plans, her father even canceling a business trip, to drive to Miyagi. She'd visited her grandparents there only a few months earlier, but he seemed years older when they arrived. Mere weeks later, he'd been admitted to the hospital. Doctors informed the Yuuki family, in their infuriatingly calm tone, that he didn't have much time left. Once again, Asuna was the only one who cried.

She didn't want to remember him like this, connected to so many machines as he clung to life, his warm voice and booming laughter reduced to a mere whisper. She wanted to remember the happy times on the patio as he and Grandmother wove tales about their life together, or sitting by her as she looked out into the forest to watch the rabbits frolic. But she refused to let him be alone either, and she wanted to cherish what little time they had left together, no matter how it came.

"Your grandmother's already waiting for me," he said shortly after he was admitted to the hospital. "She'll be mad if I keep her waiting too long."

He'd not spoken since. Not until the weakened hush of his voice cut through everything else in the room.

"Don't you have better things to do than sit by an old man's bed?"

"Mother, Father and Koichirou have been so busy, so I wanted to be here."

"Silly girl, you don't need to be here for me to know you care. I carry all of you with me every day in my heart." Somehow, with all those wires attached to him, he smiled at her. "The only thing that makes me sad is I won't get to see you fulfill all that wonderful potential that's deep inside you. I know you're going to do amazing things."

"Aren't you scared?"

He shook his head, even managed a quiet little laugh. "The only reason to be scared of death is if you haven't really lived. That's one of the two most important lessons I've learned in my life."

"And the other?"

"Find an amazing person to share it all with." He must have sensed her discomfort, for he continued. "I don't mean that horrible man Kyouku picked for you, either. Trust me, you'll meet the right person and you'll know. Just like I did with your grandmother. And then? The adventure really begins."

"I hope you're right, Grandpa."

He squeezed her hand and, a few seconds later, drifted off to sleep. She didn't know it at the time, but those would be the last words she'd ever hear from her beloved grandfather.