Out of Darkness

On Christmas Eve Shinya's home was filled with the sounds of Tori giggling softly and Shinya and Brandon attempting to decorate a Christmas tree, as well as the scent of cinnamon, and burnt cookies while the three tried to prepare for the Christmas party that Shinya and Tori were throwing.

"Just... try and hold the, bow.. straight." Brandon grunted while balancing on the top of a chair's backrest with one foot, and bracing himself with the other. He and Shinya were TRYING to tie bows to the treetop decoration of a sparkling snowflake, but in order to reach the back of the tree to tie the bows, Brandon had to get creative.

"It is straight, just tie the ribbon, and please be careful Brandon." The drummer sighed, watching as Tori's brother quickly tied the knot before falling off of the chair, announcing to his sister that he was all right when she gasped and demanded to know what had happened.

It took a total of an hour to decorate the tree, and normally being so behind schedule would have Shinya quite stressed, but something about Tori and Brandon's interaction made it all seem all right.

After finally decorating the tree Shinya sat down beside the love of his life to describe to her the appearance of the final decorations, while Brandon sat on the floor beside the tree to admire his and Shinya's handiwork. Suddenly a slight jingling filled Tori's ears, followed suddenly by Brandon swearing, Shinya crying out, and the crash of bells and breaking glass, and Tori screaming.

Silence.

"What happened?" Tori pleaded, holding onto Shinya's shoulder but receiving no answer until there was a knock at the door, and Brandon burst into laughter. Shinya was sitting in what seemed to be shock while Brandon laughed uncontrollably, so Tori slowly felt her way to answer the door.

Kyo stood outside Shinya's house, admiring the work Brandon and his friends had done rebuilding the porch after Achilles' rescue of Miyu as Die parked the car when the scent of burnt cookies surrounded him, coupled with Brandon's laughter and Shinya's complaints about wasted work and a broken tree.

"Good morning, Tori-san!" he greeted, smiling wide while stepping into the house to see a seven foot tree lying on its side in Shinya's front room with Brandon sitting beside it laughing at the broken and shattered decorations, and Shinya frowning while staring at the mess.

"I don't know what happened, they haven't told me yet." Tori explained with a slight pout while feeling her way to guide Kyo to sit.

"Miyu grabbed some bells from the tree, and Achilles didn't like it, because he knows that the decorations aren't toys. So he chased her under the tree and around the room, and through the kitchen. He doesn't fit under the tree so he knocked it over and now it's all over the floor." Brandon laughed while Shinya busied himself with cleaning up the mess.

"Is that why the house smells like something was set on fire?" the singer questioned.

"Hah! No, Tori-san tried to bake cookies for our guests tonight." Shinya answered, though it was obvious he was trying very hard not to laugh.

"I thought I turned the timer on, but I didn't. It isn't my fault I couldn't see that the timer wasn't set!" she defended, "At least I tried!" she added with a pout.

"It was a good effort, Tori-san." The drummer soothed, earning a smirk from Kyo that went unnoticed by those around him as Brandon went to let Die into the house.

"Look who I found wandering around outside the house!" Die announced suddenly, walking into the living room with an arm full of small gifts, and Toshiya right behind him with his own holiday load.

"I would if I could! Who did you find?" Tori retorted playfully, scratching Achilles behind the ears as he guarded the tree from Miyu, only to squeal in delight and squeak a greeting to Toshiya, who she hadn't visited with in quite a long while.

By the time the "party" started, Shinya's home held the band, Tori and Brandon, as well as their mother, and Yumiko. Food was served, Christmas carols were sung, and stories were told. Mostly stories of Tori as a little girl that left her blushing and everyone laughing.

The party was put together for Tori, who mentioned how much she missed Christmas parties with her friends in America before she lost her sight. To cheer her up Shinya agreed with Brandon to throw a party for her, to help cheer her up. Unfortunately the party was mostly just people sitting together and talking, with the occasional carols here and there.

"So tell us what Shinya is getting you for Christmas, Brandon said you already know?" her mother pushed.

"Yeah, we are talking about some different medical things with my eyes." she answered dismissively, but naturally there was someone else in the room with them who was now curious to the topic.

"What are you doing with your eyes?" Toshiya questioned curiously, but the tone of his voice left it obvious how excited he was to learn their plans.

"There is a surgery he found that could give my sight back to me. It's a long shot, but I think it's worth it to try. If it works, his Christmas gift to me will be my sight." she answered, apprehensive to everyone's reactions but the only truly negative ones she received were from her own mother.

"You know surgery isn't going to help you, why are you going to go through all of that pain for nothing?" she demanded in English, wanting some privacy from the watching musicians as she reprimanded her daughter.

"It isn't just for nothing. We've done a lot of research on it and this has a good chance of working mom." Tori sighed, feeling her mother take her arm and start to pull her out of the room. With another sigh she took control and began to guide her mother through the house and into the room she now shared with Shinya.

"It would be wrong of me not to warn you now, my mother is going to hate you." Brandon muttered to Shinya, looking at the ceiling, "She's overly protective of Tori; she's going to act like you're the one who cut my sisters eyes up when all of this is said and done."
Shinya frowned and gave a quiet sigh that went unnoticed by all but Achilles, who chuffed and launched himself into the drummer's lap, setting Miyu on his head. The once heavy atmosphere of the room took an instant turn to humor as the small dog rolled off of his head, and was caught with a gasp of pure panic by Shinya.

It was hard not to smile at the interaction between the drummer and his dogs, even with the hardly audible arguing between Tori and her mother. It was obvious that Mrs. Death only wanted what was best for her daughter, and was afraid of the pain that would come with her recovery.

Tori was aware of the pain that would come with the surgery, and very aware of the possibility that it would be for nothing. However she also desperately wanted the possibility of being able to see again. Also having been living with Shinya she had developed a sense of independence that was causing her to argue more confidentially with her mother.

"Mom, I don't care about how much it's going to hurt me! I don't care about any of that. Shinya has promised to take care of me, and they guys will help us with the dogs. I'll be fine if you just support me for once since I went blind!" she retorted angrily, setting her glasses on the bedside table.

"I do support you, baby. I just don't want to see you hurt!" her mother snapped.

"That's bullshit Mom. You haven't treated me like an adult since I left the hospital! I've been your 'poor baby girl' every day of my life! I've been your broken little girl, unable to care for herself, or think for herself!

"I'm thinking for myself now, Mom! I'm making my OWN decision on this, the only say you have in it is whether or not you're going to be there for me." she announced and turned to leave, not even caring that she had left her glasses behind.

Kyo was the first one to notice her rejoin their "party" and was speechless. He had never actually seen her before without her glasses, and Shinya was right when he told them that without her glasses Tori is finally visible.

All of her strength, pain, sorrow, anger, and beauty was finally unguarded in front of them, and it was incredible.

Though he and the rest of the band were the first to notice those qualities in her eyes, Shinya and Brandon were the first to notice the tears in them. Both of their reactions were quite different however; Shinya wordlessly stood and put his arms around her, knowing that feeling him near her was exactly what she needed at that moment, while Brandon quickly stood and went after his mother seeing it as his turn to argue with her for a while.

Holding her to offer quiet reassurance Shinya felt the unmistakable burn of her tears against his shoulder and nuzzled against her in a way that only she noticed. "Don't cry, Tori-san. She will come around and everything will be all right." he muttered for only her to hear. She nodded against him and attempted to take a calming breath but only found herself keeping back more tears.

Taking notice Kaoru signaled for the lovers to be left to some privacy and follow him into the kitchen to go over some band business that Shinya would be filled in with later. However nothing was accomplished as they listened instead to Brandon's arguments with his mother, only catching an occasional word here and there until it all went silent and mother and son left Shinya and Tori's bedroom to sit in the living room as if nothing had happened.

The party ended shortly after that, leaving Tori and Shinya home alone with their dogs after Brandon helped them to clean up. Mrs. Death left only moments after the arguments, kissing her daughter's forehead before walking out without a word to sit in her empty home and think about her life and her decisions.

Shinya sat on his bed that night watching Tori busy herself around the room, cleaning up and sorting her laundry according to the beaded accents that told her which clothes items were which, smiling at her ability to lead a nearly normal life if only people give her the chance, opening his arms to her when she finally had satisfied herself in her sorting job and fell into a blissful sleep, only half dreading the trip to the doctors in two weeks to consult about the red eyes that stared through him without seeing anything at all.