The little girl swallowed thickly, tucking one of her raven bangs behind her ear and looking away. Normally, she was so in control of her mind and body. So why now, when this idiot dog was here to see, was she turning to mush? Her eyes stayed trained on the scenery outside the open wooden doors. She dared not look back at that deceiving gaze.
"Hey, Aki?"
She pretended like she hadn't heard him. She had told him numerous times not to call her that dumb nickname he had so graciously given her. She tried to remember when he started calling her that… But as always, Shigure had to persist in getting her attention.
"Akito…" He half-whined out her name. She glanced at him, showing that he had her attention at last. "Do you wanna be somebody with me?"
She practically jumped out of her position on the floor with her legs folded under her. She finally turned her head to look at him incredulously. "What?" We all wanna be somebody…
"If you ever want to be someone, other than the person you are now, you need to get out of here. Will you get out with me? Come and be someone with me?" Shigure lay on his back, still in his school uniform, and staring at the ceiling. His hands were folded under his head with his elbows sticking out. He looked like he was dreaming.
And he probably was.
It all reminded her of the game she played when she was younger. They called it House. You pretended to be someone or something you weren't. There was a father, mother, sister, and brother. Then somebody unlucky got to be the dog or the baby. She never did take a liking to that game. It was too fake for her; it was hard to play.
Akito stared down at him, wondering what to do next. The dog tilted his head back, looking with inquiring eyes at her small frame. She answered in her mind: Of course I want to go with you, you fool. But how can I? This is my house, my curse; I'm the head of the family. I understand this burden; running won't help. So how can I leave?
"No thanks." She dragged her knees to her chest and rested her chin on them while wrapping her arms about her legs. Shigure didn't seem surprised and just smiled up at her. Strange that it wasn't sad or happy. Just a meaningless motion, like he was mocking her.
Her mind went back to the game House and an image entered her mind of her and Shigure as mother and father. She grimaced. Why did her mind have to wander to moronic fantasies?
She sighed and decided to turn away again. Shigure sat up slowly, keeping his eyes on the girl, and scooted himself close to her. He sat right in front of her. He knew the mask hiding her feelings wasn't invincible. For such a young girl, she seemed so grown up sometimes.
She glared at him. I'm up against a wall, your wall. What do you want me to do?
His smile (smirk?) stayed firmly in place. "I'll take you back to your room then." The dog of the Zodiac picked the Head up in his arms. She twitched at being so close to him, but wrapped her arms around his neck anyway as he carried her and buried her head in his chest. Eventually, she was going to need comfort. They were all searching for the exit.
This was pretty much inspired by the song Reinventing Your Exit by Underoath. If you look at the lyrics, you'll see some similarites between them and this story. Like the phrase 'up agasint a wall' and 'we all wanna be somebody'. The idea just came to me when I woke up this morning. I just listened to the song and the story just flowed. I guess if you want to understand the story more, you should listen to the song, too. Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed.
-PL