YURI... an angel gone too soon Ikuko had known about Rei's past for a long time. As she closed her eyes that night, she buried her face into her pillow. But she could still see, and hear in vivid detail, the horror in the death of one of her best friends as it unfolded... Ikuko had been on shift when Senator Hino had brought his pregnant wife and her friend, Yuri, into the emergency room. Yuri was transported immediately to the maternity ward. By Yuri's request, Ikuko had been asked to be one of the nurses to attend Megumi's premature delivery. Ikuko could still remember the knot of fear she felt in her guts that day... Yuri was hemorrhaging. Yuri had been excited, she knew the baby was a long awaited boy. She hadn't understood how serious her condition was. Ikuko quietly gave the order for blood to be given, but their blood supply was low, and Yuri couldn't wait. When Ikuko transfused her own O+ blood on the spot, Yuri had been confused. Ikuko had held Yuri's hand and watched helplessly by her bedside while the doctors valiantly tried to save her long time school friend and baby Megumi. She watched as Yuri's husband took a distraught little girl into the hallway to observe through the tiny window in the door. Ikuko put her head under her pillow, and pressed the sides over her ears with her hands. But she could still hear Rei's screams of 'Mommy' over and over again as she watched her mother bleed and not move. She could still hear the little girl's father try to console her in a strained voice. Ikuko had gotten light-headed and passed out when Yuri died. Megumi had died 3 days later from complications. He had just been too premature. Ikuko could almost smell the bouquets of Casablanca lilies as she held Kenji's hand tightly the day they attended the double funeral service. There had been one large casket, and one small shoebox. She had taken notice of the small dark haired girl, who stood silent and alone with a bewildered expression on her little face. Her grief stricken father had been surrounded by well-wishers. Ikuko's heart ached. The funeral scene was just a premonition. Five years later, Ikuko saw Yuri's daughter again as she was rushed into her emergency room, battered and unconscious. Ikuko was not about to let her friend's little girl die, and had worked hard to stabilize her. She and her team had barely managed to save her. Rei had needed immediate surgery to stop the internal bleeding. Rei was moved to ICU, and then eventually to recovery. Shortly after Rei was released, Ikuko had handed in her resignation after 15 years of work in the emergency room. It had gotten to be too much of an emotional drain for her. Kenji and Ikuko had filed for custody of Rei when her father was put in jail, but custody was awarded to her next of kin. Rei went to live at the Hikawa Jinja with her grandfather. Ikuko had been glad when, a few years later, Usagi had met and befriended Yuri's lonely daughter at the jinja. Senator Hino's request that Rei continue to attend the private TA school was honored and funded by his own payroll. So Usagi never had an opportunity to know her from school. Today, Ikuko had to come to grips with her own daughter's molestation... and her preference for Rei. Ikuko wept brokenheartedly into her pillow for the first time in many, many years... not since her friend Yuri had died in her arms at the hospital. Kenji slid quietly into the bed and put his arms comfortingly around his upset wife, "Those haunting memories of Yuri have been bothering you a lot since Rei's been staying here, ne?" Ikuko nodded against his chest. "I'm so sorry. I wish things could have worked out differently, too. But you know... we do still have each other, and two wonderful children of our own... and Rei makes three." Ikuko blew her nose and she kissed Kenji tenderly, "I need you, Kenji." She whispered. No more words needed to be spoken as Kenji undressed his still beautiful bride and made long, slow, tender love to her.
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