You ever get the feeling that you're being watched?
That something bad is going to happen today, and it's going to happen to you?
Madamada ikuo! Ikimashou! (There's still more to go! Let's go!)
Chapter 1: Divine Wind! The Wakening of the Holy Dragon
That pain as she hit the ground, falling face first into the red dirt beneath her, rising up on her hands, and looking straight forward to that katana sticking straight out of the ground. How the blade glistened like ice in the faint rays of sunlight; and the light blue of the tsukamaki that glowed lightly; and the gold of the pommel from which grew a long, furry reed that flowed so quietly in the breeze. It called to her, saying, "Weild me, and unimaginable powers shall be granted unto you." What a gravelly voice it has, she thought, as she stood and approached the sword. With only a moment of hesitation, her hand clasped around the tsuka and up it rose from it's post in the ground; and almost as immediately as it had been drawn from the ground, the hazy form of a dragon stood before her, fangs beared, battle wounded, and two-tone eyes glistening with rage. It shot forward at her, claws and teeth bared, and -
"AAAGH!" The girl short up in bed, thick brown hair stuck to her forehead by sweat, covering her eyes. She panted, turned her head to the side and swept a hand across her face in an effort to regain sight. She took a long, hard look at the clock, groaned, and pushed herself out of bed and onto the nearby, and still-so-friendly floor. "That dream keeps me up at all hours. Even at 3 o'clock." The crickets outside chirped their sympathies.
The girl got up and shuffled across the floor to her bedroom door, which she slammed open, and proceeded to shuffle out into the hallway; she'd almost made it to the stairs when a scratching noise at a nearby door made her stop and turn. She sighed, reaching down and picking up a chubby black and white cat. She nuzzled it and started back down the hallway, opposite of where she came, and glanced at the door the cat was scratching at, marked 'Oto-san' in sloppy katakana. "Jou, you can't be near that room. You know that, silly cat." She murmured to the feline, and promptly tossed the cat onto her bed, where it landed unceremoniously against a large teddy bear.
She smiled and rummaged through her closet for clean clothes and soon donned a pair of light blue jeans, blue tennishoes, a pale orange shirt with brown designs on it, and a black jacket. With a quick sweep of a hair through her short brown hair, she turned away from the mirror beside her armoire and patted the cat on her head. "I'll be back in a while, Jou. Try not to go too crazy while I'm gone..." The cat narrowed it's blue eyes at her and mewed lazily. "Mmraooo."
The girl chuckled and walked down the stairs to the ground floor of her house and quietly stepped outside into the warm night, closing the front door behind her and not bothering to lock it. She turned and began her quiet walk towards Tsubakidai Park, which she frequented whenever she couldn't seem to stay asleep.
As she walk down the street, the flickering light of a street lamp caught her green eyes and she looked upward at it, frowning a little. She placed a lightly tanned hand on the post and the light brightened, shining a protective light onto the ground below it. She nodded and continued on until she was nearly at the park.
She lifted her head from watching a little bug scurry past her, to a sound that sounded unusual at this time of night - a swing. No one ventures out this early in the morning, so why would a swing be moving? There was no breeze, so how? How?
She looked out onto the park as she neared the entrance to it. There, sitting on a bench near the swings, was a rather tall boy with deep, dark curly brown hair which covered his eyes, and he sported a green jacket which covered his obviously greatly sculpted torso and arms, which were presumably a rich tan like his very serious face.
She blinked and started toward him, cautiously, and stopped just before him. He looked up at her, his hair falling away from his left eye, which was a honey brown colour. She smiled and nodded at him. "I see you are perhaps having trouble sleeping as well?" She asked him, taking a seat in the swing near the benches.
The boy nodded and murmured a quiet, "Yes." The girl moved back and forth slowly, ever glancing over at the boy.
After a small moment, the girl looked up at the night sky and her eyes followed the dot of a plane flying slowly. "If by chance we ever meet again, my name's Satomi Rao." She finally said, hopping out of the swing to hold out her hand for the boy to shake. She greeted his straight face with a smile. He outstretched a long arm and his much larger hand closed almost all the way around hers in a handshake.
"I'm Yasutora Sado," He said, his hand sliding away from hers. "But my friends call me Chad."
Rao nodded, and dropped to the ground to draw in the dirt. She huffed a little. "Well, it's nice meeting you here in the high hours of the morning, Yasutora Sado. I hope one day we can be great friends, and I may call you Chad." She smiled over at him, and he nodded back. She turned back to the ground and continued drawing, rubbing out a few spots here and there. She stood after a few minutes and observed her drawing, as did Chad. It was a picture of something that resembled a large creature with a grinning mask for a face. She nodded, and Chad looked from it to her.
"What is it?" He asked quietly.
Rao tapped her chin thoughtfully; she looked at Chad, who was staring intently at the little doodle. "It appears near my house quite often, and it's kind of... transparent at times. Then, when a person passes by it, it kind of... " She put out her arms in a 'basketball hoop' kind of form, and made a grabbing motion. "... grabs them, and eats them; but the person's body just kind of... lies there for a bit, and then the creature disappears. The police usually find the bodies. They think it's a serial killer. It's sad, really." Rao shook her head slightly.
Chad stood slowly, and motioned lightly to the drawing. "That's called a Hollow."
Rao looked up at him, now seeing that he was much, much taller than she thought he'd be. "You know about the Hollows, too, then?" She asked.
Chad nodded, and opened his mouth to speak more, but it was muted by a cat's meow. The two turned and Rao stamped her foot and put her hands on her hips.
"Joujoushi! You know you aren't supposed to leave the house! Bad cat," Rao scolded, going over and picking up the chubby tuxedo cat. She turned back to Chad and held the cat up to him. "Do you like cats, Sado-kun?" Chad only nodded, and Rao handed him the cat, which he held very gently. Jou nuzzled him and purred as he pet her, and Rao smiled.
She looked over her shoulder a moment and flinched at a moth as it buzzed by her. She glanced back up at Chad and held her arms out as he gave the cat back. Rao smiled up at him and patted the feline's head. "It seems that my cat and I are finally growing tired again," She said, almost sadly. She put out her hand again, and they shook hands. "It was most nice to meet you, Sado-kun. Perhaps I'll see you again, yeah?"
Chad nodded once more. "Yeah. Nice meeting you, too."
Rao bowed a little and waved at him as she walked out of the park, and picked up one of Jou's paws and moved it in a waving fashion, too, and Chad waved back.
Once Rao had shut the door and locked it, Jou jumped out of her arms and waddled up the stairs to 'their' bedroom. Rao yawned a little and followed her, quickly changing when she got to her room, and flopping back down in bed. The crickets outside chirped loudly, and Jou purred heavily, and suddenly meowed. Rao grinned.
"I know, Jou. I like him, too."
