Chapter 1: Searching
The afternoon dragged on relentlessly hot, unbearably sticky. The stifled students sweat and panted as the creeping sun rose ever higher above them. It had turned out for the students of class 3-A their teacher in a random spurt of compassion had decided to have the final class of the year outside. Unfortunately the last day of the school year also happened to be the hottest day of the year thus far.
The tedious seconds dragged on. The assortment of adolescents began to moan and as the clock neared the end of the lesson a quiet student with short brown hair and emerald eyes began to lose focus on the study material. The letters slowly turned gray and blurry until white began to cloud the girl's vision completely. The sounds of the wind against a nearby tree began to overpower the sound of Mr. Varner's voice. Suddenly it was as if the volume had been muted, like the world had been painted over with bliss, smooth and calming.
"Miss Kanzaki! If you think anyone will fall for that you are sorely mistaken! Get up at once and PAY ATTENTION!"
A few seconds ticked by...then a few more.
"Uhm...Mr. Varner?" Asked the meek boy to the unconscious girl's left. "I don't think she can hear you..."
Mr. Varner's gangly awkward frame began to tremble with distress. Quickly he stumbled over the few bodies blocking his path to the girl. He shook her slightly and when there was no response he quickly lifted her thin figure into his arms and rushed her to the nurses office.
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When the young girl's eyes opened it was an unfamiliar sight they saw. Bright silver light shone off a slim mass. The light danced as the object sliced through the air and as it slid through the darkness, darkness fell in shreds to the ground. Behind the tattered black curtains a form took shape, which wielded the shining blade. It crouched, lifting the weapon in front it. The light from the sword shone onto the dark figure, illuminating him.
His skin was tanned a deep peachy brown. His chocolate eyes rich with fear. He had his arms and legs tightly twisted in a threatening stance, ready to strike. His lips pulled back to reveal his tightly clenched teeth. What stood out most to the girl as she helplessly backed away was the deep midnight color of his wild hair, which began to whip through the air as he closed the distance between them. He drew back his weapon, as it shred through the air sweeping closer and closer the frightened girl screamed into the darkness.
"Watch out!!!" Screamed the unconscious girl.
"Hitomi! Hitomi! Nurse Hadler help!" The bright fluorescent light was blinding. Hitomi felt her heart pounding hard and furious against her chest. The smell of antiseptics filled the air, she began to hyperventilate.
"Hitomi snap out of it!" Hitomi knew the voice and focused on it. Strange that the hopeless darkness was now so bright and blinding. She reached her hand into the white abyss and felt the clutch of Yukari's familiar fingers.
'So it wasn't real after all...'
"Hitomi are you okay? I was so worried! I saw Mr. Varner carrying you so I begged Mr. Salvador to let me out of class. You were out for over fifteen minutes Hitomi! They were going to call an ambulance!"
Hitomi attempted to adjust her eyesight and look past the bubbles of white obstructing it. "Does that mean..." She pulled herself forward and leaned on her weak elbows. "Does that mean..."
"What is it Hitomi?" Yukari leaned closer, her eyes bulging and compassionate.
"Does that mean that…school is...over?" she asked with a weak smile. Yukari returned it happily.
After a small confrontation with Nurse Hadler Hitomi was able to convince her that she would be able to get home without fainting again on the condition that she was given a ride from Yukari who eagerly agreed.
Hitomi slung her arm out the window as they turned onto the highway the breeze was refreshing though still humid. Hitomi thought it was similar to the feeling of having a fan in a sauna. She wondered how she had come to that conclusion. As her mind wandered she realized that she was in the middle of a conversation.
"So what exactly do you think it was? I didn't know you could get hallucinations from heat stroke." Said Yukari.
"I don't know...a dream? Or maybe a vision...no...it must have been real. He seemed so farmiliar. Like remembering someone from a past life, you know?" Hitomi met Yukari's confused expression and sighed "...maybe I'm just crazy."
"Sounds about right." Yukari unleashed an evil grin.
"Well thanks that makes me feel so much better." Hitomi rolled her eyes though her nostalgia was transparent. What exactly did it mean?
"If you think you remember him maybe you should spend some time trying to remember or his phone number." She winked. "Aren't dark haired guys your type?"
Hitomi sighed. "I don't know"
The drive to Hitomi's house ended quickly. She waved goodbye to Yukari and promised to call her later that night. She watched the gray car speed away down the suburban street and turn onto the busy highway.
Hitomi made her way up the plain light gray cement path, up the stained cherry wood steps and through the white door. She listened for any signs of life. Knowing, however that no one was home. Her Mother and Father's cars were absent from their habitual spots. A sigh of relief escape her lips as she made her way up the nearby white-carpeted stairs to her bedroom.
The idea of sitting still was instantly repelling. The last thing she wanted was to let herself obsess over the distressing dream. As she thought, there was a mountain of laundry awaiting her through out the floors of her home. It was a common occurrence due to her parents' absence during the day and carelessness in the mornings as they stumbled sleepily around preparing for work.
It wasn't as if they were cruel. Nor were they uncaring. Hitomi had several memories of the vacations they had taken over the seventeen years of her life and experiences they had shared together. It was only that Hitomi had never need severe guidance. She was mild tempered and non-confrontational. Strange, but generally a warm person.
There was something about the dream that just wasn't right with Hitomi. She had a strange feeling that she was missing something important. Of course, in the past she had usually been right about her hunches. When she was a child she had taken only minutes to find all the hidden candy around her house on Easter morning. It was as if she had known where they were already. Her parents rejoiced in having such a lucky child. It was a gift in their eyes. She was always asked to find parking spaces and even tell her friends fortunes with the tarot cards she bought in Italy three months after she turned sixteen.
Aside from that, Hitomi never lost things. There was nothing she couldn't find. A lost pencil for her classmate, an earring for her mother, her father's keys (which were like repelling magnets to him). She would do this using a technique her grandmother had taught her. The power of dowsing.
Her instrument for dowsing was a pink stone her grandmother had given her to practice with. The mysterious trinket never faltered. Its accuracy was flawless and so Hitomi did feel a little smug about her abilities.
A thought occurred to her as she was picking up the laundry from her floor and moving it to the wicker basket in the hallway. As her mind absorbed the angles of his face, the fear in his deep eyes. She realized that the only thing she felt was an overwhelming urge to hold him back from his strike, to warn him of the danger in this decision. This instinct was locked deep within her core. Her very essence became consumed with the need to protect him. But why?
Her rational mind screamed 'no'. That this was dangerous, irrational, irresponsible, and foolish! How could she risk putting herself between this raging boy, a sword and whatever he was charging at? What if she got hurt? What if she was too late?
...What if she was too late?
Her pulse once again began to race. Before she could take a breath her body involuntarily flew into motion. She darted down the stairs, dashed through the kitchen to grab her keys and bolted through the garage to her 95' Chevy.
Within moments she was on the highway heading toward the most populated part of the nearby city of Gaia.
It happened in a matter of minutes. The quaint little houses with their tidy little shrubs began to fade and fill in with restaurants and stores. The lawns with their small cement walkways widened into parking lots which eventually diminished all signs of natural life.
Hitomi began glancing at every face, every face looking more like the boy in her dream. She decided that looking while driving was an easy way to get hurt especially while she was inching closer to the end of the wide street roads. The buildings began to close in around her growing endlessly into the pale blue sky.
She found a parking meter outside a store called "ZeBa" with a capital "B". As Hitomi got out of the car she noticed the theme of the store was everything zebra print. Clothing, furniture and even food. It made her slightly nervous to leave her car in front of the flashiest store on the street but as she looked around for a more suitable place the urge to find the furious, frightened boy overshadowed her normal parking behavior. Anxiety leaked into her hope. His destiny was in her weak hands.
It would have been easy for most people to follow simple instructions. Unfortunately for Hitomi her directive choices were based purely on the seemingly gravitational pull of her minds eye. Her legs stumbled along and as the night began to cast shadows down the tall buildings every cell in her body told her to turn back. To go home. To forget it.
A tempting thought. Had she any choice in the matter? Until this moment what had held her in place? Her life was mundane and clouded with repetition. The every day tasks all blurred together carrying her closer to...what? She was through with High School and now it was time to prepare for collage. There were only two months before the fall. Before the patterns of her life would harness her in and chain her to a slightly altered existence.
Strange that up until this moment she hadn't noticed how afraid she was. Not of her relentless search, no. This crazed hunting was the only thing that had ever filled her with any sense of purpose. What scared her to the bones was simply normality. How could she never have noticed? It seemed all too simple now. She looked down at her swiftly moving body and knew that nothing had ever moved her this way before. It was during this epiphany that she noticed the gravity of her conviction.
If she were not to find him...who would feel more pain?
The streetlights turned on, her heart pounded relentlessly behind the layers of thin muscle and breast. The exotic stores were long gone and in their place were boarded windows and dark alleys. Her conviction grew stronger still as she pushed forward. But then, something changed.
The invisible pull abruptly stopped. Like a thread pulled to tightly, it had snapped. "No..." Hitomi fell to her knees. So it was all in vain? The search was over? Tears welled up in her eyes and fell feebly onto the pavement.
There was nothing now. No hope. No sense of purpose. Only utter emptiness. Followed by anger. Why had she allowed herself to peruse this? It was completely out of character. Hitomi had always thought of herself as dependable. She knew that she was viewed that way by her friends and certainly by her parents.
Her parents...the thought of explaining this to them was nearly unthinkable. She would either end up in a straight jacket or simply grounded for the rest of eternity. She was doomed now no matter what she did. She cursed herself internally. Why hadn't she thought to leave a note? At least she could have asked Yukari to cover for her.
Yukari...She was probably sick with worry at this very moment. Hitomi vaguely remembered her promise to call her. With her purpose gone and hopes shattered it seemed that nothing was worth all this grief. If she did make it through this night there would certainly be hell to pay in the morning. She sobbed helplessly.
The thought of her loved ones was almost more than she could bear. Here she was, putting herself in harms way. Lost in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night with no one around and no idea how to get home. A new wave of horror washed through her. She was lost.
Through her hyperventilating lungs and heavy sobs she hadn't noticed the other sounds. If there were no way for this to end well she at least wouldn't allow it to end tragically. She owed her family that much. Though weak and tired she forced herself up onto her feet. As she brushed the dirt from her legs something caught her attention.
She looked around at the empty street. This sound seem strange and out of place. It was almost musical, comforting. She turned to her right and noticed the thin alleyway. Whatever the sound was, she was certain it was coming from in there. She moved slowly toward the narrow passage. The walls closed tightly around her. With the dim yellow glow of the streetlights far behind, she noticed at once the pale glow of the moon as it filled the darkness and she was thankful. She realized that not all frightening places were bad.
The music had faded and been replaced with a babbling sound, like water. It was so very out of place. The curiosity took on a mind of it's own. Hitomi's pace quickened, she began to lightly jog until the moonlight illuminated them. She stopped dead in her tracks. Maybe frightening places weren't all that bad...but the bad people that lurked in them surely were a different story.
It was too late to run away. It was almost as if they were waiting for her. They were standing in a semicircle, every set of eyes fixed on the strange girl. There were seven of them, five men and two females who were nearly identical. Their faces wore smiles. The smallest of the men stepped forward, his silver hair glowing in the moonlight, his eyes red and terrifying.
"Hello little girl." The females behind him rolled their eyes and walked off into the shadows. A lean boy with short dark hair followed behind them. Before he faded away he turned to look at the frightened girl once more. His eyes filled with sorrow.
Hitomi tried to reply. Sadly, nothing but her pathetic whimpering was audible.
The small man grinned widely. "What exactly do you think you're doing here?" He asked as he stepped closer. The sound of his slow approach sent shrill screams of dread through Hitomi.
"Leave her Dilandau, we have more important things to do right now." said the Tallest of the remaining men. He had an almost animal like wildness to his long brown hair. His body language was ridged with frustration. Hitomi watched Dilandau's face change. His focus turned to the one who had addressed him. The remaining two males backed away, seeming to know what was coming.
The distance between the men closed and a loud crack echoed through the alley. Hitomi covered her ears and fell to her knees.
"Now Jajuka...have we learned a little lesson?" he paced in a circle around Jajuka's crumpled body. He was holding his ribs, blood poured from his mouth as he groaned in pain. "We have plenty of time and It's been such a long day...I only want to have a little fun." In that instant his eyes were on Hitomi's shaking form.
"Oh dear, you do look a mess. Don't worry about Jajuka." His eyes narrowed and his lips turned down with disgust as he spoke the name. "He only got what he was looking for." A sadistic smile spread wide across Dilandau's lips.
"P-please...." Hitomi began to say. Her voice was vibrating with fear. She knew there was no way out of this. Her life was over.
Dilandau began to laugh and Hitomi recognized the music she had heard before. The black notes rang in her hot ears.
"You made a very big mistake coming here all alone in the night my dear. There's no one to save you now."
Hitomi closed her eyes. She thought of her mother and father on Christmas morning, Of Yukari's wide smile, of the boy whose name she would never know. Dilandau's hysterical laughter grew louder as he closed the distance between them.