A Winter of Ghosts (The Waking Series) (28 page)

"I'm not sure I understand
what happened," Kara admitted. "Is she Yuki-Onna now, the way the
other girl was?"

Sakura nodded. "A part of
her, at least. When she was inside of me, I could feel what she felt and I knew
what she knew. It was . . . it was what I needed. It was wonderful. Now she
will be a part of Yuki-Onna, and none of us will have anything to fear from the
Woman in White again. And Akane has put her own anger and bitterness behind
her. In the spring, when winter is through, her spirit will finally go on to
the peace she has always deserved. And the rest of the ghosts will as well."

Kara reached out and took Sakura's
hand, squeezed it in her own. On the other side of her, Miho did the same.

"Then we can
all
have peace," Kara said.

"And a new beginning,"
Miho added.

Sakura nodded, then turned to
her friends with a wistful smile.

"Let's go home."

Shortly after ten o'clock the
next morning, Sakura stood outside the hospital smoking her last cigarette.

She had taken up the habit out
of nervousness and a careful cultivation of rebellion. Or at least the
appearance of rebellion. Smoking cigarettes had given her an excuse to be
solitary, to find places to hide and think. Miho's friendship had been her only
salvation at first, and then Kara had come along and surprised them all, this
gaijin girl who had become like a sister to both Miho and Sakura.

A sister.

Sakura would miss Akane for as
long as she lived, but she felt a peace now that she had only thought she had
achieved before. This was different. She and Akane had had a glimpse into each
other's hearts in a way that she had never imagined possible, and they had
recognized a kinship that went beyond being sisters. They shared
anger
.

But now Akane had found peace. Sakura
felt a terrible loss at the thought that they were parted from one another,
now, but she had made her peace with that as well. She wanted to live a life
that would make her sister proud, to strive and succeed and find happiness that
would have been enough for both of them.

With a smile, she glanced at the
cigarette in her hand — only half-smoked, she flicked it to the walkway
and ground it under her heel. It reminded her of a girl she no longer wanted to
be.

A door whooshed open behind her
and she turned to see Mai coming out of the hospital. The girls regarded one
another for a few seconds, and then Mai smiled.

"Is this the smoking
section?"

Sakura gestured to the dead
cigarette on the ground. "I just quit."

"Can you spare one, then? I
thought I saw you headed out here."

Sakura handed her the half-empty
packet. "Take them. I won't need them anymore."

"Wow. You're serious. Good
for you. I would like to quit, but not today," Mai said.

She lit a cigarette, took a
drag, and blew out a plume of smoke. Sakura felt tempted to go back inside, but
instead she wrapped her scarf more tightly around her neck and plunged her
hands into her pockets.

"How is Wakana?"
Sakura asked.

Mai nodded. "She is doing
well, thank you. I believe they will let her go home this afternoon, or
tomorrow at the latest."

"Mr. Harper is being
released today," Sakura said. "But they're keeping Ren another day. Miho
is with him now."

Mai turned to her. "And
Kubo?"

"He is alive," Sakura
said. "The doctors say they must watch him closely, but they believe he
will recover. A feat of pure will, they say."

Mai smiled, watching the smoke
rise from the tip of her cigarette. "I am so happy to hear that."

Again Sakura felt tempted to go
in, but she could not escape the feeling that Mai had come out specifically to
speak with her, that she was working on something she wanted to say, so she
waited.

A minute passed. And then
another.

"Ume confessed," Mai
said at length.

Sakura blinked in surprise, but
said nothing.

"She also named all of the
girls who were there. She told the police which were only witnesses and which
took part in beating Akane," Mai said, without looking at Sakura. "Including
Emi and Kaori."

The pain in her voice when she
gave those names was obvious.

"Your friends," Sakura
said.

Mai took a long drag and blew
out the smoke. Her expression had turned hard.

"Not any more," she
said.

Sakura looked at her. "I'm
sorry."

Mai glanced up in obvious
surprise. "You're sorry? Why? I would think you would have been happy."

"Happy that Ume confessed,
and the truth has come out at last? Yes. But happy that your friends turned out
to be . . . something other than what you thought they were? No."

Mai nodded. "Thank you for
that."

"Fortunately you have other
friends," Sakura said. "Wakana. Reiko."

With another puff of her
cigarette, Mai studied her. "You. Miho. Kara."

Sakura arched an eyebrow. "Are
we friends?"

"Believe me," Mai said
with a smile, "I'm as surprised as you are."

Kara woke in her own bed, awash in
sunshine that poured in through the window. She blinked at the brightness of
it, realizing how late she must have slept. The events of the previous day —
the previous week — came flooding back to her, and she lay there for a
moment relishing the warmth of her bed. She would have loved a day to indulge
herself, to stay in bed and read or, considering how sunny it was for January,
to wander Miyazu City and take photographs.

She threw back the covers and
bounced out of bed, grabbing a thick black sweater and tugging it over her
head. The repercussions of the previous day needed attending to, and she had
already slept too late. Her father was still in the hospital and she wanted to
get down there as early as possible to see him, and to see Master Kubo as well.
The Unsui had astounded them all by living long enough to get to Ume's car, and
then astonished them further by surviving all the way to the hospital. Kara had
to know if he had amazed the doctors just as thoroughly.

A glance at the clock told her
it was nearly ten a.m. and she frowned deeply. Why hadn't anyone called? Sakura.
Miho. Hachiro. They couldn't all be sleeping.

Troubled, she tugged on a clean
pair of blue jeans — she had taken a hot shower the night before and
washed her hair, and now that she was running so late she didn't want to take
the time. She went to her desk and scooped up her keys and what little money
she'd had in her pockets the day before, but her cell phone was missing. The
charger was plugged into the wall, but the cord ended in nothing.

Frowning in confusion, she
brushed her hair in front of the mirror and tied it back with an elastic. She
plopped back onto the bed and pulled on her boots, trying to solve the mystery
of her missing cell phone. Now that she was fully awake, it took only seconds. With
her father in the hospital, it would not have been appropriate for a teenaged
girl to be alone in the house, so Miss Aritomo had spent the night.

She must have taken the phone
to let me sleep
, Kara thought. Which was all right, actually. If anything
vital happened, Miss Aritomo would have woken her.

They had all gone to the
hospital the previous afternoon. Ume had driven Kubo out as far as the main
road to wait for the ambulance. When it had arrived, the EMTs had insisted that
Ren go along with them as well. He had been having trouble breathing because of
sharp pain in his chest and they suspected broken ribs, which turned out to be
true — three of them.

Mr. Yamato had ridden to the
hospital with Ren and Kubo, while Ume drove the rest of them back to Miss
Aritomo's car. The principal would have to get his own car today, but the
previous afternoon he had not wanted to be parted from Kubo's side. At the
hospital, they had all been checked for frostbite. Several of Kara's fingers
had turned a soft, eggshell blue, but the doctors managed to get the blood
flowing properly again.

Another hour or two and this
might have been a very different story
, a young, handsome doctor had told
her. And, in truth, as her hands warmed up and the blood started to flow
properly again, it had hurt like hell.

Kara's stomach grumbled, but she
ignored it. A quick glass of juice would be enough to keep her until she could
get some lunch with her father at the hospital. They were supposed to let him
go home today, and she wanted to be with him when he was discharged.

She left her bedroom, stepping
out into the short hallway and heading for the bathroom. Three steps away, she
heard voices in the living room. With a frown, she changed direction, walking
down the hall. Even as she stepped into the room, she recognized the voice, and
then she saw him.

Hachiro sat at the table with
Miss Aritomo. As Kara entered, they both looked up. Miss Aritomo said
something, but Kara did not hear a word of it. She grinned so wide that it hurt
her face and she rushed to him, a giddy feeling fluttering in her chest. While
he had been missing she had been so full of fear that now, to be without it,
made her feel light as air. Yesterday they had both been exhausted and in shock
and overwhelmed, surrounded by people. At the hospital they had held each other
and, when no one was looking, had shared half a dozen tender kisses.

But that had been the aftermath.
Even then, the sky had been gray and snow had been falling lightly.

Today, though . . . today was a
new day, bright with promise.

"Good morning,"
Hachiro said.

"Good morning to you,"
Kara replied, still grinning, knowing she must look foolish but unable to stop
herself. "What are you doing here?"

Hachiro laughed, and it was the
most wonderful sound she had ever heard. Kara had been so afraid that she would
never hear him laugh again, never hold his hands or feel his kiss.

"I knew you would be going
to the hospital. I thought I would come along. Miss Aritomo said it would be
all right."

He nodded to the art teacher and
Miss Aritomo nodded back.

Kara looked at Miss Aritomo, who
smiled as well.

"Your father asked me to
make sure you were able to get plenty of sleep," Miss Aritomo said, almost
apologetically, as she handed over Kara's cell phone. "I am afraid I have
made Hachiro wait for nearly half an hour."

"I didn't mind,"
Hachiro insisted.

Kara grinned at him again, then
sighed and forced herself to stop. She knew she should say something, but
feared the idiot babbling that she knew would result. Instead, she looked at
Miss Aritomo.

"Thank you."

Miss Aritomo nodded her head.
"Whenever you two are ready, I will drive us to the hospital."

Kara could not stop looking at
Hachiro, wanting to touch him to reassure herself that he was actually there. She
was about to say she was ready to leave right then, but then she felt the slick
griminess of her teeth and realized that she had not brushed them.

"Just a minute!" she
said, and she raced to the bathroom wondering how awful her breath was and
whether or not Hachiro had been appalled by it.

She brushed quickly, wished that
she had showered after all, and then hurried back into the living room. Miss
Aritomo and Hachiro had put their jackets on already. Kara felt emotion surging
up inside of her, words screaming for release.

"Um, Yuuka . . . I mean,
Miss Aritomo, I just need to get my coat. If you want to start the car, Hachiro
and I will be right out."

Miss Aritomo narrowed her eyes
for a moment and Kara knew she was about to protest. It would be inappropriate for
her to leave Hachiro and Kara in the house alone together. But she hesitated,
and then smiled in understanding.

"Don't be long," she
said, going out the door.

The moment she closed the door
behind her, Hachiro turned to Kara with a curious look.

"What was —" he
started to say.

Kara silenced him with a kiss,
reaching up to pull him down to her. A new warmth spread within her, much
stronger than the cold of Yuki-Onna's storm.

"I almost lost you,"
she said between kisses, breathless. Then she stopped and pressed her face
against his chest.

"You didn't," Hachiro
said, stroking her hair. "It's all over, now. The curse is broken."

And it was. Last night she had
sat by her father's hospital bed and they had spoken of many things, but mostly
of the future. For more than half a year, the curse of Kyuketsuki had tainted
their lives and filled their time in Japan with tragedy. And yet even in the
midst of that tragedy, they had found happiness, and love. Her father loved
Yuuka, Kara had no doubt about that now, and he did not want to leave Japan any
more than she did.

Kara and her father had started
over, just as they had set out to do, but they had been in the shadow of the
curse. Now they were both looking forward to spring — and another year in
Japan — hoping for less drama and more time to appreciate the beauty of
the nation. Kara would graduate from Monju-no-Chie school, perhaps even attend
university in Japan, since she doubted her father would want to leave. They had
begun this new life together, and they would always be close, but now they were
establishing new lives of their own, separate from one another. Her father
loved Yuuka, and Kara . . .

She laughed softly.

"What is funny?"
Hachiro asked.

"Me. Love. People,"
she said, trying to form an answer. "Once I was afraid to be in love with
you because I knew that I would only be in Japan for a year or two before I
would have to go home."

"You know that I had the
same fear," Hachiro said.

"We were stupid. You don't
get a choice, Hachiro. You can't just decide that you are not going to love
someone. It would be like trying to stop the sun from rising or the spring from
arriving. We can pretend otherwise, but it just happens."