Description: In the aftermath of Roberto's fight with Hotaru, the soccer star is forced to confront his own nightmares. Even though Roberto is cheered up by the appearance of Sakura, the two find themselves talking of more serious subjects and Roberto himself is forced to confront the reality that he may not be same again.
It's been sometime since Roberto had been dragged off the battlefield of that SNF against Hotaru. Roberto while a fast healer, like most fighters, has been concerned about his ability to play soccer. The actual thought of not being able to play has been plaguing his nightmares of late.
It is why Roberto looks ill at ease, haggard, and sleep deprived. The fact that he has the jar of twisted chain mail that was removed from his side could not help his morale much either. Who ever thought that was a good idea?
Visiting hours are still in effect though his little brothers are now leaving. Just because their brother ate his second meal of murderfist doesn't mean they get a free pass on homework.
Sakura feels really bad for Roberto -- she still takes some responsibility for him getting blasted by that deadly attack of Hotaru's, not once, but -twice-. She had a chance to stop Hotaru, to ensure she took herself out of Saturday Night Fight and Neo League until she could get herself together. Maybe she should have. But after talking with Principal Raizo, a man she respects... she knows that would not have done anything at all.
But that's not why she's here. A friend of hers is hurt, and she's here to visit. Now... despite being a Seijyun student, the girl knows practically nothing about flowers. That's what classmates are for. And though it was an unusual request... Seijyun's crack Ikebana team pulled through in the end.
Which is why Sakura's carrying what's known as a 'spider flower' in her arms as she walks around the corner to the room where Roberto's laid up in bed. She nods her head to the departing young men, flashing them a bright smile. "Hey, you two! I'm here to visit your brother..." She makes way for them to depart, before stepping into the room fully.
"H-hey Roberto. Long time no see!" She steps inside, glancing around the room for a bit. "Feelin' any better? I got you this, and a card..."
"Hey Sakura," Is all Roberto can get out before the fighting college student is in the door. A glance is given first to the spider flower and then to card. "It has been a long time... Whose fault is that?" The soccer star blames Thailand and fighting circuits. He's not gonna take responsibility. "Probably my fault." Ok maybe he will take some responsibility.
The soccer star hisses in pain as he reaches out for the flowers and the card placing them on the table next to the cards given to him from his brothers. "Well... I'm not coughing blood... But I won't really feel better until I can take the soccer field again."
Whose -fault- is that? Sakura may be a tomboy, but she can still overreact with the best of them, narrowing her eyes in dismay. The last thing she expected was catching heat for coming to visit someone! She doesn't voice this thought though, as Roberto's already catching himself before she can. As a result... she just exhales a sigh and shrugs. "It's... not important."
Sakura didn't think he'd reach for the flowers so soon, so when he does, she steps closer to make it a bit easier for him. Setting them on the table she notes, "I... had no idea what to get you, but the Flower Arrangement Club helped me out a bit. These are spider flowers... they tell me these are from Brazil! I figured it might be nice to have a little slice of home..."
Stepping back, she folds her arms behind her back, flashing a cheerful little smile. "Yeah, I hear ya there! It's rough... and I can only imagine how much it h--" She realizes that's depressing talk, so she trails off, her hands snapping forward for a dismissive gesture. "Eh, I barked at Hotaru afterwards. She's going... through stuff."
Subconsciously, she clasps her hands to her heart -- Hotaru had hit -her- with a Satsujinken a few days before her fight with Roberto. "Did the doctors tell you when you can leave yet?"
The soccer hero was only joking when he was pointing fingers. Unfortunately it's hard sound playful after all that hurty goodness was pumped into his body. Nevertheless he blames himself for not making it more obvious he was joking and so he waves off the sigh and shrug.
"They are? Man, I had no idea they were from there. Thanks. I should probably visit family there soon. Maybe see if I can surprise my rival, Shane." His smile becomes impish. Of course he's one of the few people to be able to get away with calling Sean that without him batting an eyelash. After all, Sean gets to call Roberto Tron. It's only fair.
"It does... hurt." Roberto wasn't going to shy away from the truth. "In this case I have only myself to blame for this one. After the first time I felt that move I worked on devising a way to diffuse that attack as efficiently as possible. I wanted to make sure I'd never felt that pain again." He hisses as he takes a deep breath again. "Thought that if she saw someone render the attack harmless with ease she'd stop using it. I pushed her wondering if that the friendliness she was showing at the beginning of the fight was real. And then things changed..." If Sakura barked at her afterwards then Roberto doesn't have to fill the blanks. Sakura already knows.
He does still have to answer that final question, "Well..." There's a short pause before he finishes answering, "They'll release me in a couple of days but I'm not sure if I'll move quite the same as before." The 'on the pitch' is implied.
Sakura grins a bit as she realizes she played right into Roberto's dry humor. Whoops. "Haha," she chuckles good-naturedly, afterwards.
"Shane?" Pause. That's some soccer guy, right? Oh wait, =that's= right. "Oh, haha, yeah! He called the other night, wanted me to pass on a few well-wishings. He's been kinda busy down there, apparently they're about to try and start up a new fighting league or something for the locals..." She shakes her head with a pleasant grin -- thinking of her silly boyfriend-from-afar always brings a smile to her face.
"Eh. You're always so hard on yourself, Roberto, quit it! I don't want to spoil secrets or nothin, but Hotaru... she's dabbling around with powers she doesn't understand yet. =I= think she needs to quit fighting professionally till she figures it out, but who am I to tell someone else how to run their life?"
Then she adopts a sterner expression, "Till she's hurting friends I really care about, y'know, I =don't= have that right, do I?"
Still, Sakura doesn't want to be all mopey-mopey the whole time she's here. "Well... folks tell me it's just a phase, we gotta stick with her through it. Just like you folks stuck with me during Shadaloo, right?"
Kasugano steps forward, gripping Roberto's hand firmly. (Whichever one looks better, anyway!) "You take it easy for now, and when time comes to walk, you keep walking it. It'll come back, I promise." Kasugano's always been of the if-you-dream-it-it-can-happen crowd, and considering her mastery over chi -- in many ways, she's right! "My chest still hurts, but every day I focus on myself, try to will everything back to its proper order. Just... y'know, I don't wanna hear 'I'm not sure if' from you. Turn that around, 'cause I =know= you'll be back to top form in no time." She presses her hand tightly to Roberto's, smiling enthusiastically. "Deal?"
The soccer star smiles, putting on a brave face for Sakura's sake but there's no one who knows his body better than he does. His body will heal... He will still move fast, but he will never move like he did before that fight again. It was sort of like when Hyo injured his arm in the Justice incident. His arm while it still works, doesn't move as well as it used to.
Roberto will have to deal with this injury the way he dealt with that one. He adapted. At first he learned a new position to make up for the fact he didn't have full use of his arm and when he was able to play goalie again, he played the position smarter. And with an injury that affects both positions like this, he has to ride the pine pony at first. And when he comes back to those positions he'll have to adapt once more.
The soccer star voices none of those thoughts. "I'll be ok." Even if he won't be the same.
It's a good thing Sakura didn't gain the ability to read minds when she had been taken over by Shadaloo -- or else she'd be shouting the soccer star's ears clear off. As it is -- she hears nothing except a calm reassurance that he'll be okay! "Eh, close enough! I'll let you slide this time..." The irony of telling a goalie he can slide seems to have slipped her mind for the moment.
Really, the fact that Roberto will be giving his best effort is really all she can ask for! And... there are other things on her mind, but she doesn't want to trouble -him- with them, per se. "Great!" She smiles, taking a step back and re-folding her hands behind her back. "Anyway, just wanted to check up on you... is there anything I can bring you back from the outside world?"
There's just one request. "Not quite what you bring me but what you can take out there." There was something he wanted to talk with Hotaru about the fact that Shadaloo had been attacking people. "I had a chance to talk to Hotaru about something that happened recently. Shadaloo is attacking people who were involved in the war. I had a visit from a nurse during my soccer practice who proceeded to beat the ever loving crap out of me. When I talked to Hotaru, she said that she was attacked by a boy who also was seeking revenge against those who fought in the war. She apparently disposed of him with ease. It makes me wonder if she used that move then too? But either way, the fact that there's more than one person is unnerving."
He doesn't want this visit to be all gloom though and he says with deadpan delivery, "Bet you were wondering about the lack of nurses, huh?"
Sakura's heard this story before... but from a different perspective. Namely Daigo's, passed along secondhand by Raizo. "Oh... yeah, Daigo dropped us a warning too... a nurse though?" Kasugano laughs faintly at his attempt to inject humor into the situation. "... and a boy?" The nurse, she can start drawing connections for, but the boy... not so much.
Kasugano takes another step backwards, bowing. "Huh. Well I'll keep my eyes out for 'em! I have some ideas... might even lay a trap of my own." She snickers a bit, twiddling her fingers in a farewell wave. "Get better soon, okay?"
Log created on 20:53:42 04/06/2008 by Roberto, and last modified on 19:43:46 04/07/2008.