To My Sunflower

Eiji and Kei finished their stacking of goods inventory in the storeroom.

They entered the surgery area and headed to the sinks to wash up, so they could assist Tyne.

Eiji frowned at Tyne's pasty complexion. He had been working tirelessly since dawn and without a proper break. He made his way to him at set of cots where he was taking the temperature of a sick boy whose ailment seemed to be malnutrition.

Tyne adjusted the saline infusion drip hanging on a hook to the wall above the cot. A slightly faster flow of water was released down the thin clear tube, connected to the boy by a large taped needle protruding from his wrist.

"Get some rest." Tyne said.

He gave the boy a cordial smile and pat on the head to send him to sleep. His smile dropped at the sight of the hanging saline pouch, slowly emptying like sands of an hourglass.

"How many pouches do we have left?"

Eiji stared at the saline sack. He answered with a heavy sigh, recalling the box of twelve he had stored on the shelves.

"Not a lot. I'd say twelve pouches and maybe a small box of needles."

"We can sterilize the needles and tubes in boiling water." Tyne sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose with his index finger and thumb.

"You need to rest." Eiji soberly reminded Tyne.

"These people continue to come here injured or ill. Malnutrition exacerbates the injuries." Tyne g.r.o.a.n.e.d.

"War is on. They'll continue coming." A woman interrupted their conversation.

The men cordially acknowledged the clinic's lone nurse. Nana Suzuki. She appeared older, possibly near her thirties. Although, Eiji wondered if the stress and demand of running the clinic had aged her more than she should've.

"People need to eat Suzuki-san." Tyne sighed.

"There's a food shortage Weber-sensei. If you haven't noticed." She austerely pointed out to Tyne.

It's obvious that the people of Saka were suffering the government's food intake restrictions. If they were like Ohno-sensei's father, taking pride in the fact they were eating less, they weren't giving their bodies enough sustenance it needed to survive on. The people were wasting away. All for the pride and sake of war. This fact angered Eiji, but he held in his emotions and opinions. There was no point in adding fuel to the discussion.

"The government's prescribed food mandate is good enough to keep the body running." Tyne soberly pressed his point with arms folded over his c.h.e.s.t.

"If people eat the recommended amount, they wouldn't be falling over and injuring themselves."

"Sensei. Take a look at this place! The people have barely enough to even meet that!" Nana snapped at him.

She was taken aback by her reaction and instantly apologized with a low bow.

"It's okay Suzuki-san. I understand you're tired. Go get some rest." Tyne reassured her and issued an order to Eiji. "Can you please walk her home?"

"You're sending me home?" Nana gasped.

"I'm not angry or punishing you if that's what you're thinking. I want my nurse to be in tip top shape and continue to give me eye candy." Tyne reassured her again with flirtatious wink that made her groan with distaste.

"Tsk. You doctors are all the same." She grumbled and give Eiji the okay to walk her home.

The day had waned into a dry hot evening. With fiery orange streaks running across a cloudless semi-dark sky.

Eiji stepped out of the clinic with Nana, and walked with her along a dirt path between patches of wild grass that slopped downwards towards the heavy concrete wall that keep the sea from breaking onto land.

He noticed a lot of unnaturally made crevices and small crater holes about the grounds. Amongst a lot of upturned rumble and haphazard bits of mortar, broken furniture and house parts. An odd stench of iron, musk and Earth lingered about the air. Scars of war that shouldn't be a sight on civilian lands.

"How many people died during the raids?" Eiji quietly voiced his question.

Nana was about to reprimand his bad taste of conversation. She stopped when she saw the distraught expression on his face. Of course. The doctors had said he was a soldier escort. She recognized that look. She had never been to war, but had treated many journeying soldiers.

"Enough to break people's hearts with grief and then harden them." She answered with a pensive sigh.

"Tell me Takaki-san. What are men like when they fight the front lines?"

Eiji stopped.

His eyes stopped looking at the way before him, remembering the sights of Iwo Jima. His senses remembered that sickly sweet smell of blood and pungent sulfur to his nostrils.

His hands curled into fists to control his emotions. Reminding himself to stop seeing that moment of war. He was no longer a soldier for Japan.

"When you march with your squad, you're backed by your countrymen. As soon as you raise your weapon. Your mind is your own." Eiji answered with a heavy heart.

He calmed his racing heart beats with a few deep breaths then resumed his trek down the path towards the wall.

A tear slipped down Nana's eye, understanding Eiji's words.

"So it is." She answered and resumed the same path as Eiji.

She led the way back to her cottage, which was furthest from the village and closet to the sea.