Drops of Crimson

Chapter 6.

“ Vincent? We have some good news for you. We have spoken with your mother and agreed that as long as you have injections twice a day and return for regular check-ups then you can go home! We are just getting the decision finalised and in about a week you can leave!”

He stared at the woman kneeling in front of him with large hopeful eyes.

“ Really?”

“ Really!”

“ I get to see mom!”

“ Yes!”

“ Mom! Yay! Mommy! I get to see mommy! I get to go home!”

The child’s eyes sparkled with utter delight and for once he couldn’t keep the smile from his face. Doctor Kadowaki hugged him, trying to stop her tears from falling, but couldn’t so she hid her face from the boy. She took deep breaths before whispering to him.

“ It took a lot to arrange this, so don’t miss me too much, okay? I know that you have been here a while so don’t worry, don’t miss me!” ‘Even though I’ll miss you.’ Her inner voice carried on. “ Besides,” she smiled “ I’ll see you when you visit!”

“ I get to see mom! I get to go home!”

He rested his head on the woman’s shoulder, grinning from ear to ear.

“ … And therefore B is 18. Now, as you can see, A 12, B 18, and C … anybody?”

“ 7.8, sir?”

“ Correct. C 7.8. So place these values into the quadrilatic formula … Mr. Dincht, you do that for me!”

“ Umm … X … um, minus 18 plus/minus the square root of …”

Beatrix turned around to speak to Vincent.

“ Hey, Vin!” she whispered, “ You know Steiner?”

“ I’d turn back around if I were you.”

“ What? Why?”

She swivelled around in her seat to see their maths teacher standing in front of her desk. Unlike their history teacher, he did not have a problem with shouting. He came off as, for most of the school’s pupils, plain scary. He was the scariest teacher in the school with very little tolerance for people who spoke in his lessons; they were usually given an unfair amount of detentions, but not always.

“ Miss. Korosu, is there something you with to share with the class?”

“ N … no sir.”

“What did you say, Miss. Korosu?” The teacher was glaring at her.

“ I just asked Vincent if he understood what you were speaking about sir.”

“ Vincent, do you understand what I am teaching?”

The boy in question glanced at his teacher, then at his friend, then at his teacher.

“ Yes, sir.”

“ There you have it, Miss. Korosu! I shall ask you the same question, do you understand?”

“ W … well, I umm …”

“ You can return here at break and dinner today, then after school tomorrow. I suggest you keep your mouth shut in future!”

Beatrix glared holes into her desk as she bit her lip firmly.

“ Is that clear?”

“ Yes! Sir!”

“ Now, turn to page 182 in your revision guides and read from there up to page194, then answer the questions on the sheet I’m giving out. This is to be done in silence and if you are stuck, put your hand up and I shall help!”

The pupils pulled their revision guides out their bags and began flicking to the pages.

“ I can’t believe him!”

It was after school and Beatrix was walking home with Vincent.

“ Hey Vincent, are you coming over tonight?”

“ Can’t. I’ve got work.”

“ Oh, yea. Forgot.”

“ Sorry.”

“ Nah, S’okay. You can come over the day after tomorrow instead if you like?”

“ Thursday?”

“ Yep!”

“ Sure.”

“ Okay.”

They walked along in silence. Beatrix sighed, she had been in detention both break and dinner. Even though that didn’t bother her, she knew Vincent had remained in a classroom and had done extra work, as Beatrix was the only person in school he talked to. She didn’t know how to say sorry to him because she knew that if she did apologise, Vincent would just say she was being silly, but she felt really guilty about it. She frowned slightly as she decided she would make it up to him.

Aerith, the cetra, the ancient but most importantly, the woman. She may have had many different names given to her, but in the end she was still only human, mortal.

Vincent sighed as he stared at nothing, his head resting on the kitchen table.

“ I need to find something to do!” he decided, “ I am positively bored out of my mind. Travelling with Cloud and his friends was more interesting than this, not that I can say I really enjoyed that, but it was something to do.”

He knew that the blond had been in love with Aerith, but she didn’t want to be with him, she knew Tifa’s feelings and respected them. Her friendship with the younger woman put a stop to any romantic feelings towards him. He thought that she was very kind as she appreciated her as much as she aught to have been by everyone.

Cloud was a clever, young man who had been fascinated by Shin-Ra from a very young age. Like many people, he had seen Sephiroth and had been amazed. Not that Vincent blamed Sephiroth for his actions. He blamed Hojo and Shin-Ra.