Chapter 1 - Dreams
"Die!" He yelled at her. Earlier
he had been fighting a demon. The battle had gone off in a different direction.
When he came back, he had attacked her.
"Why are you doing this?" she
asked him again, blocking his blow from his sword with her own. He had never
used her sword before that she knew of. Where was that manservant of his? Maybe
he could tell her what had happen to his lord, her love. This wasn't like him.
It was as if he was somebody else completely.
In answer he laughed and pulled
back his sword to swing it at her. She did a back flip and he missed her.
A sly smile
came over her face. What if it wasn't him? He didn't seem to be using any of
his usual attacks. If her love really wanted to kill her, she would have been
dead by now. Whoever this was disguised as him obviously didn't know his part
to well.
"If you were truly him I'd be
dead," she said. "So you're not him, are you? Why do you wish my death?"
He didn't
reply, but with amazing speed came towards her and backhanded her. 'That's
going to bruise,' she thought as she got up. Then she though maybe it was him.
Maybe he did have some feelings for her after all, that's why she wasn't dead
yet. Still, why did he want to kill her now? She had to be sure before she
killed him who it was.
"I've had enough of this human,"
he said and came running towards her. His sword straight in front of him, aimed
at her.
There. She saw it. Her opening,
though she may die in the process trying to prove who it was. She placed
herself firmly in front of him. When he was close enough she swung her sword up
at his right arm. Shock passed over his eye. Not because she made contact with
flesh, but because she cut his sleeve. He wasn't expecting this.
His torn sleeve rustled in the
wind. He looked down at it, then turn to give her a malicious smile. "Fool, you
missed."
She stared at this arm. "The
armband isn't there," she said softly. "And he can't take it off. You're a
fake."
Her body jerked as he pulled his
sword from her abdomen. She hadn't even felt the cool metal go into her body.
She fell to her knees and tenderly touched the wound.
The demon, what kind she knew
not, laughed. "Ah, so my disguise wasn't fool proof. Doesn't matter now. You'll
be dead soon. I am done here." He sheathed his sword, turned and walked away
into the forest.
'At least I'll die knowing it
was him,' she thought of her love. Slowly she lowered herself to the ground on
her stomach. "I'll die happy knowing that it wasn't him."
She wasn't sure how long she
laid like that till she heard rustling at the edge of the clearing. 'The demon
has come back to finish me off,' she thought.
Gently she was rolled over and a
cloth was placed against her wound. Golden eyes looked down at her. These were
filled with love and worry. They seemed to glisten some how. One thing she
knew, these eyes belong to her love. Not that of the imposter's. Tears weld up
in them.
She smiled gently. "Don't cry.
You never cry." She placed a bloody hand on his cheek to wipe away a tear that
had escaped. "Look, I've gotten you dirty."
Despite himself he laughed and
smiled. Not like the imposter. These were kind. Her love didn't smile often,
but when he did, it was beautiful. A tear fell and landed on her cheek. It
caressed her face as it rolled down finally falling off her jawbone.
"I don't know what I'm going to
do with out you," he said and stroked some hair out of her face.
"Oh, I'm sure you'll fine some
else," she said and tried to laugh, but blood just came up.
He pulled her into her lap. She
noticed that he was bare to the waist, showing off his muscular torso. "Where's
your sword?" she asked, not seeing it.
"I left it with Hikariko. It
will protect her. She's being taken care of, don't worry."
"By that thing you call a
servant? More like she's protecting him." This caused him to laugh again. "You
know, you have a wonderful laugh. You should try it more often." He smiled and
kissed her. His kisses were always sweet. "And smiling. Smiling is always a
good thing."
He shook his head. "I don't see
how you can be like this while you're dying."
"Oh, I'm not dying. Just
preparing to take a nap for a little while. Don't worry; I'll see you again. I
promise."
He kissed her forehead. "You're
very bad at keeping promises."
She was confused at first, and
then she smiled. "The armband. Yes, I suppose I should take it off." With her
bloody hand she fumbled for it. Softly he clasped his hand around hers and
brought it to his chest.
"No. I'll keep it on. Besides,
I've grown used to it now. It'd be odd not to have it on." She was going to say something, but nodded
instead.
They were quiet for a little
while, only breaking it to exchange kisses. Eventually she felt her breath get
shorter. Things began to look darker. "The sun is setting sooner today. It's
almost evening already."
He looked up to the sky and when
he looked back down to her tears were running down his face. "That's because
you're taking away the light. When you're gone, there won't be any left."
"Promise to take care of
Hikariko?" she said in between gasps of air. He nodded, tears still falling
down her face. He put her hand on his face. Slowly she stoked her thumb against
his cheek. "Forever. I'll love you forever Sh-"
"Kameko, time to get up!" said her older brother, Clay.
Kameko's eyes shot open. That dream again. She had that blasted dream again. Her Nana, when she had told her about it, said that she had something on her mind, and that when dreaming that's how it appeared. 'But I haven't been thinking about the same thing since I was five,' she thought as she got out of bed.
The dream had been haunting her since she was five. At least she thought it was since then. Same scene over and over. Never changing. She was always looking through the girl's eyes. Someone disguised as her love was attacking her. To prove to herself that it wasn't him, she'd cut his shirt to find a armband – a gift of some kind? – not there. She didn't realize till it was to late that she had been mortally wounded. The "demon" walked off. Later her love would come. He would spend the last moments of her life with her. She would extract a promise from him to protect someone. She'd die saying "I love you". Kameko didn't know any of their names, save for this Hikariko. She had no idea who that was and she had that feeling that she was saying her "love's" name, but always managed to wake up before she could complete it. Actually it had been a while since she had it.
"Whatever," she said and shook her head to clear it of the remnants of her dream. She went to her closet and dresser, picked out some clothes, and headed for the shower. It was the first day of summer vacation.
"Hurry up!" Kameko's little sister, Raven, shouted as she pounded on the door. "Don't use all the hot water either. Some of us need to bathe too."
"Some more so than others," she heard Clay say as he passed by the door. "Ow, don't pinch."
Kameko was tempted to take a lengthy shower, but decided against it. Besides, Papa probably was making breakfast. "Mmm, waffles!" she said as she dried herself off and took in a deep breath. Yup, it was waffles all right. Quickly she put her clothes on. With her dark wet hair she put it into a lose bun. She'd style it later.
"Knew this get you out of the shower," her father, Rafe, said. He was a tall man with dark tanned skin and thick black hair. His eyes almost matched the color of his hair. Of course, it did help that he was half-Mexican, half-Native American. Her and her sibling shared this same coloring.
"You know me and my waffles, Papa," she said with a smile.
"Mija," her grandmother said, coming up from behind her. Her grandmother was a short Mexican woman who was like a second mother to her grandchildren.
"Morning, Nana," Kameko greeted.
Clay came into the kitchen. "Morning Nana, Papa, Kameko."
"Mijo get Nana a glass. I keep shrinking." Nana spoke with a slight accent still and occasionally used Spanish words. This had rubbed off on the three siblings.
"Sure thing," Clay said. He rivaled their father in height. He took after their father a lot. Unlike their father he had let his hair grow out. His shoulder length black mane was kept back in a ponytail. The girls seemed to love it because otherwise it would have been cut a long time ago.
Kameko, Nana, and Clay sat at the kitchen table and began to eat. Kameko couldn't help but think this was truly a strange morning. They hardly ever had time to eat breakfast all together, especially on the weekends.
"So what's the special occasion?" she voiced in between bites. "This is strange and only one person is allowed to strange things here, and that's me."
Her father looked at Clay and his mother. "Wait till Raven gets here, then I'll tell you. I was going to wait till earlier, but since I know you won't wait . . ."
"Patience has never been her thing, Pops," Clay said with a look at Kameko.
Kameko rolled her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. You're just jealous."
"Of what?"
"Don't know, but you are."
Clay just shook his head. "You're weird."
Kameko smiled at him. "Thank you!"
Rafe just shook his head at his children's antics. Raven bounded into the room humming a song, grabbed her plate and joined the family. "Ok, since the whole family is here now, I'll tell you what I have planned."
Raven grinned. "I like surpasses! Surprise me, Papa!"
Rafe looked at the table. His mother gave him a knowing smile. "Do you remember the Higurashi's?" he asked.
"Yeah, we met them when Mom lectured in Japan. Right?" Clay said.
Rafe nodded, "Right. Well, I got a call from Higurashi-san. She says that she distinctly remembers having invited us to return."
Kameko grinned from ear to ear. "We're going to Japan! I love Japan!"
Clay kicked her under the table. "You've only been there twice, dork."
"So have you, retard."
"Children," Nana warned. The siblings looked at each other and crossed their arms.
"Have I been to Japan, Papa?" Raven asked.
Rafe nodded. "Yes, I think you were around two. So you don't remember much, I suppose."
Raven shook her head. "But I will this time!"
"So when are we going?" Kameko asked.
"Next week. If that's alright with everyone."
"Yah-hoo!" Clay whooped.
"Sounds good to me!" Kameko replied.
"Is Nana coming?" Raven asked.
Nana shook her head. "I'm afraid I can't, mija. I'm getting old and can't travel that far, even on a plane." The kids looked disappointed, but understood. Nana had recently started to use a cane. They understood that she wasn't going to be able to do things like she used to.
"I've already talked to Nana about this. We decided that she'll stay her and watch the house. Make sure that things are in running order when we come back. Don't worry. Aunt Lily will be here to keep Nana company." Aunt Lily was Rafe's sister from their mother's second marriage and was full Mexican. She lived in Arizona and the kids didn't see much of her.
Kameko's head perked up as if a light bulb just went on over her head. "Hey! I'll get to see Kagome again!"
A/N: Ok, READ AND REVIEW please! For those that are wonder what Mija/Mijo (pronounced "Me-ha" and "Me-ho") means: (best way to put it is like) "my child", "darling", "deary", "sweetie" etc. Things you're mother, grandmother, aunt, etc. calls you, ya know? It's Spanish. Mija is for a girl, and mijo for a boy. Uh, lets see. That's all for this chapter, I think. Any questions leave them in the review (sorry, won't answer any on the people in Kameko's dream) or e-mail me at queenweirdness@verizon.net. Later I might have a separate submission for all the characters, so ya all can keep 'um straight (kuz there's gonna be like a 1,000 "K" names, I swear). Also, please R&R my other works! Thanx! J
