[Fanfic] Whispers (Tatta Hitotsu no Koi)
Dec. 13th, 2007 06:05 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
walkwithheroesTitle: Whispers
Author:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
walkwithheroes
Rated: G-PG-ish. No worse than the show.
Spoilers: Takes place after the show.
Word Count: 1,276
Disclaimer: Tatta Hitotsu no Koi and Hiroto and Nao are owned by NTV and Kitagawa Eriko. The thing with the angel wings was totally "borrowed" from the k-drama Wonderful Life.
Pairings: Hiroto/Nao, of course.
Summary: When they whisper to one another, they are saying the important things.
Author's Note: I've wanted to write a fic about this show for a long while. I really wanted to make it nice and fluffy, but . . .it didn't quite turn out that way. Written forkitsune714, who wanted some Hiroto/Nao fic. And, because she gets my crazy TattaKoi love.
I.
In a photo album that's been all but forgotten, there is a photo of her at age six. She is standing in front of her grandmother's home, wearing a pair of angel wings on her back.
Years after the photo is taken, as she lays in a hospital bed, her mother will whisper to her father:
“You never should have put her in those wings.”
II.
Nao gives Hiroto the mittens their first weekend as an 'engaged-long-distance' couple. They aren't sewn very well, and they are much to late for Christmas, but. . . she made them herself, for him. Nao learned to sew for him, and she kept them for years. That makes them very special to both Hiroto and Nao.
“I'll wear them.” he tells her, as he tries them on. “When it's cold in the mornings, I'll wear them.”
Nao's eyes grow wide – Hiro's sure she's never been happier. “Really?” Somehow, she sounds so. . . business-like. Though it's a simple question, Nao makes it seem very important.
With one of his soft smiles, Hiro pats the top of Nao's head. Fondly, he whispers a single word, “Idiot.”
III.
Nao, Hiroto has decided, has a way of seeming completely innocent no matter what the situation.
Curled against his side, Nao sleeps silently. One of her hands is firmly holding his, and Hiroto is sure Nao won't let go anytime soon.
Hiroto has found that Nao has a habit of attaching herself to him, at least while she's asleep. Of course, as Nao always tells him, he also has a habit of holding her too tightly in his sleep. It's as if they're scared the other might disappear during the night. They've already lost years together; they can't afford to lose anymore.
He doesn't say it much, only when they're alone and twisted and curled up together, but Hiroto loves Nao very much. He sometimes thinks he's loved her from the first second he saw her; from the moment he dropped those fish on her. But. . . he's sure it had to be sometime after that. He was so annoyed with her at that moment, after all.
So, since she's curled up next to him and fast asleep, Hiroto takes that moment and uses it. Gently, he breathes against her neck and whispers, “I love you, Nao.”
IV.
Once upon a time, Hiroto had told Nao that he would have liked to be there during her illness. He would have liked to have helped her, because he loved her. Perhaps, it had been at that moment that Hiroto had jinxed Nao forever.
It starts innocently enough, with Nao feeling weak and tired. From there, she begins having abdominal pains. For a brief second, Nao grows excited with the idea of being pregnant. Though, that idea is dashed when she took a pregnancy test.
Hiroto takes Nao to the doctor exactly one week before Halloween. Anxiously, the couple awaits the results of the tests she has taken. Hiroto even takes off work for three days, so he can be with her.
Finally, after what seems like years, Nao is called back to the hospital. Seriously, the doctor looks from Nao to Hiro to the tiny ring on Nao's fingers. His eyes stay focused on the ring as he speaks: “I'm sorry,”
Hiroto can't seem to hear anything after that. He just reaches out for Nao's cold hand and tries to stop it from shaking. The words: 'Cancer', 'Late stage', and '30% survival rate.' do manage to make their way into Hiroto's ears.
He doesn't hear anything else, until a tiny voice beside him speaks. The voice is soft and sounds utterly lost. It's Nao, and all she seems to be able to say is:
“What?”
V.
Nao starts chemotherapy a couple of days later.
Despite protest, Hiroto stays outside the door of her room, his back firmly pressed against the wall. The words: Thirty percent survival rate. echo through his head over and over again. It's less than it was with Nao's last illness.
In his mind, Hiroto begins making plans that scare him. He can't lose Nao again, so if she's not in that thirty percent. . .
*
Sleeping in her hospital bed, Nao holds Hiroto's hand tightly. Their fingers are intertwined, and Hiroto is sure Nao will never let him go.
In her restless sleep, Nao mutters: “Don't go.”
With a sad smile, Hiroto squeezes Nao's hand and whispers, “I won't if you won't.”
VI.
Nao gets thinner and pale. She begins to lose her hair and stops eating.
But. . .
Nao never seem to be sad. She smiles when her family and friends come to see her. She laughs when someone makes a joke. Nao appears to be oddly at peace and happy with the way things are. When Hiroto questions her on it, Nao simply offers him her hand and tells him: “I'm happy, because Hiroto's here.”
Hiroto stays with Nao, because he can't lose her again. He knows he may not have a job or an apartment to go back to, but he can't leave her.
Not again.
So, he stays and he waits. Hiroto isn't sure if he's waiting for Nao to live or die, he just knows he's waiting. He watches her get weaker and weaker. He watches as she vomits blood and wakes up from nightmares screaming.
And, he waits.
Until one day, the wait is over.
*
When Nao passes away, it is the early morning hours of a cold November day.
She opens her eyes for a moment, and looks to Hiroto, who is sleeping in a chair beside her. His hand is in hers, and he looks dreadfully uncomfortable. For the briefest of moments, Nao wants to wake him up and offer to share her bed – she decides against it in the end. Instead, she feels her lips tug upward, as she squeezes his hand. In his sleep, Hiroto mutters her name.
Her half-formed smile becomes a full one. She wants to thank him for always helping her find what she loses and for always holding her hand. But, somehow Nao can't get the words out. She can't seem to remember how to form all those difficult words.
However, there is one word that Nao remembers how to say: 'Hiroto.' And, it is that word – that most precious name – that is the last thing to leave Nao's lips, if only in a dying whisper.
VII.
Hiroto is supposed to be strong. He's the one that takes care of everyone else. He's the one that knows what to do when things get bad or complicated. And yet. . . after Nao's death he is at a complete loss.
Hiroto spends the next five years as a shall of his former self. He cannot wish that Nao is alive, happy, having forgotten him this time. This time, he knows she is gone. He has some of her ashes to prove it.
He wonders around Japan, seeing all there is to see and trying to figure out if Nao would have liked one thing or place more than another.
By the fifth anniversary of Nao's death, Hiroto is tired. Tired of living, tired of missing Nao. . . just tired.
He goes to sleep that night thinking of Nao. In that strange moment between nearly asleep and fully awake, Hiroto swears he hears a soft and familiar voice whisper his name.
When he is found the next morning, Hiroto is smiling and his hand seems to be reaching out toward the shelf, that holds the bottle with Nao's ashes inside.
~FIN~
Author:
walkwithheroesRated: G-PG-ish. No worse than the show.
Spoilers: Takes place after the show.
Word Count: 1,276
Disclaimer: Tatta Hitotsu no Koi and Hiroto and Nao are owned by NTV and Kitagawa Eriko. The thing with the angel wings was totally "borrowed" from the k-drama Wonderful Life.
Pairings: Hiroto/Nao, of course.
Summary: When they whisper to one another, they are saying the important things.
Author's Note: I've wanted to write a fic about this show for a long while. I really wanted to make it nice and fluffy, but . . .it didn't quite turn out that way. Written for
kitsune714, who wanted some Hiroto/Nao fic. And, because she gets my crazy TattaKoi love.I.
In a photo album that's been all but forgotten, there is a photo of her at age six. She is standing in front of her grandmother's home, wearing a pair of angel wings on her back.
Years after the photo is taken, as she lays in a hospital bed, her mother will whisper to her father:
“You never should have put her in those wings.”
II.
Nao gives Hiroto the mittens their first weekend as an 'engaged-long-distance' couple. They aren't sewn very well, and they are much to late for Christmas, but. . . she made them herself, for him. Nao learned to sew for him, and she kept them for years. That makes them very special to both Hiroto and Nao.
“I'll wear them.” he tells her, as he tries them on. “When it's cold in the mornings, I'll wear them.”
Nao's eyes grow wide – Hiro's sure she's never been happier. “Really?” Somehow, she sounds so. . . business-like. Though it's a simple question, Nao makes it seem very important.
With one of his soft smiles, Hiro pats the top of Nao's head. Fondly, he whispers a single word, “Idiot.”
III.
Nao, Hiroto has decided, has a way of seeming completely innocent no matter what the situation.
Curled against his side, Nao sleeps silently. One of her hands is firmly holding his, and Hiroto is sure Nao won't let go anytime soon.
Hiroto has found that Nao has a habit of attaching herself to him, at least while she's asleep. Of course, as Nao always tells him, he also has a habit of holding her too tightly in his sleep. It's as if they're scared the other might disappear during the night. They've already lost years together; they can't afford to lose anymore.
He doesn't say it much, only when they're alone and twisted and curled up together, but Hiroto loves Nao very much. He sometimes thinks he's loved her from the first second he saw her; from the moment he dropped those fish on her. But. . . he's sure it had to be sometime after that. He was so annoyed with her at that moment, after all.
So, since she's curled up next to him and fast asleep, Hiroto takes that moment and uses it. Gently, he breathes against her neck and whispers, “I love you, Nao.”
IV.
Once upon a time, Hiroto had told Nao that he would have liked to be there during her illness. He would have liked to have helped her, because he loved her. Perhaps, it had been at that moment that Hiroto had jinxed Nao forever.
It starts innocently enough, with Nao feeling weak and tired. From there, she begins having abdominal pains. For a brief second, Nao grows excited with the idea of being pregnant. Though, that idea is dashed when she took a pregnancy test.
Hiroto takes Nao to the doctor exactly one week before Halloween. Anxiously, the couple awaits the results of the tests she has taken. Hiroto even takes off work for three days, so he can be with her.
Finally, after what seems like years, Nao is called back to the hospital. Seriously, the doctor looks from Nao to Hiro to the tiny ring on Nao's fingers. His eyes stay focused on the ring as he speaks: “I'm sorry,”
Hiroto can't seem to hear anything after that. He just reaches out for Nao's cold hand and tries to stop it from shaking. The words: 'Cancer', 'Late stage', and '30% survival rate.' do manage to make their way into Hiroto's ears.
He doesn't hear anything else, until a tiny voice beside him speaks. The voice is soft and sounds utterly lost. It's Nao, and all she seems to be able to say is:
“What?”
V.
Nao starts chemotherapy a couple of days later.
Despite protest, Hiroto stays outside the door of her room, his back firmly pressed against the wall. The words: Thirty percent survival rate. echo through his head over and over again. It's less than it was with Nao's last illness.
In his mind, Hiroto begins making plans that scare him. He can't lose Nao again, so if she's not in that thirty percent. . .
*
Sleeping in her hospital bed, Nao holds Hiroto's hand tightly. Their fingers are intertwined, and Hiroto is sure Nao will never let him go.
In her restless sleep, Nao mutters: “Don't go.”
With a sad smile, Hiroto squeezes Nao's hand and whispers, “I won't if you won't.”
VI.
Nao gets thinner and pale. She begins to lose her hair and stops eating.
But. . .
Nao never seem to be sad. She smiles when her family and friends come to see her. She laughs when someone makes a joke. Nao appears to be oddly at peace and happy with the way things are. When Hiroto questions her on it, Nao simply offers him her hand and tells him: “I'm happy, because Hiroto's here.”
Hiroto stays with Nao, because he can't lose her again. He knows he may not have a job or an apartment to go back to, but he can't leave her.
Not again.
So, he stays and he waits. Hiroto isn't sure if he's waiting for Nao to live or die, he just knows he's waiting. He watches her get weaker and weaker. He watches as she vomits blood and wakes up from nightmares screaming.
And, he waits.
Until one day, the wait is over.
*
When Nao passes away, it is the early morning hours of a cold November day.
She opens her eyes for a moment, and looks to Hiroto, who is sleeping in a chair beside her. His hand is in hers, and he looks dreadfully uncomfortable. For the briefest of moments, Nao wants to wake him up and offer to share her bed – she decides against it in the end. Instead, she feels her lips tug upward, as she squeezes his hand. In his sleep, Hiroto mutters her name.
Her half-formed smile becomes a full one. She wants to thank him for always helping her find what she loses and for always holding her hand. But, somehow Nao can't get the words out. She can't seem to remember how to form all those difficult words.
However, there is one word that Nao remembers how to say: 'Hiroto.' And, it is that word – that most precious name – that is the last thing to leave Nao's lips, if only in a dying whisper.
VII.
Hiroto is supposed to be strong. He's the one that takes care of everyone else. He's the one that knows what to do when things get bad or complicated. And yet. . . after Nao's death he is at a complete loss.
Hiroto spends the next five years as a shall of his former self. He cannot wish that Nao is alive, happy, having forgotten him this time. This time, he knows she is gone. He has some of her ashes to prove it.
He wonders around Japan, seeing all there is to see and trying to figure out if Nao would have liked one thing or place more than another.
By the fifth anniversary of Nao's death, Hiroto is tired. Tired of living, tired of missing Nao. . . just tired.
He goes to sleep that night thinking of Nao. In that strange moment between nearly asleep and fully awake, Hiroto swears he hears a soft and familiar voice whisper his name.
When he is found the next morning, Hiroto is smiling and his hand seems to be reaching out toward the shelf, that holds the bottle with Nao's ashes inside.
~FIN~
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2007-12-14 01:11 am (UTC)The emotions are quite heavy and sad. Beautiful. *sniff*
no subject
Date: 2007-12-14 04:26 pm (UTC)But, somehow. . . I think it fits these two.
The emotions are quite heavy and sad. Beautiful.
Thank you. I'm happy to hear I didn't go overboard, as I was scared I would.
Thank you so much for reading.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-14 06:30 am (UTC)OH.
OH.
The love I have for you exceeds all bounds. This was so sad, and yet, so beautiful, and I love the honesty of it. Your writing is so simple and quiet, which is what makes the words that much more profound.
One of my favorite lines:
He doesn't say it much, only when they're alone and twisted and curled up together, but Hiroto loves Nao very much.
It's such a simple thing, and yet, such a big, important thing, and by not trying to beat around with bush with a bunch of flowery words, it makes the sentiment that much more real.
The story was so sad, but it was so well done and so honest to the tone of the whole drama that I can't fault it for ending the way it did.
Thank you so much for writing this! ♥
no subject
Date: 2007-12-14 04:33 pm (UTC)Thank you very much.
and by not trying to beat around with bush with a bunch of flowery words, it makes the sentiment that much more real.
I try no to get too flowery, because I feel it has to be real. And real people don't really talk that way.
The story was so sad, but it was so well done and so honest to the tone of the whole drama that I can't fault it for ending the way it did.
You know, it wasn't supposed to end that sadly, but as I was writing it just came out. Then, the first part came full circle. I had thought it could take place when Nao was a child, but I think it could also take place when she's a grown up. See how that works?
Thank you so much for writing this!
Well, thank you so much for reading. I promise a happier Hiroto/Nao story next time. Or at least a Nobuta/Akira.
no subject
Date: 2007-12-14 11:52 pm (UTC)Happy, sad, I don't mind, as long as there's more Hiroto/Nao out there. And Nobuta/Akira, especially yours, is definitely something worth celebrating. :)
no subject
Date: 2007-12-16 12:44 am (UTC)And Nobuta/Akira, especially yours, is definitely something worth celebrating. :)
Aw, thanks. :)