May 5, 2004
"A Song For the Lonely"
It was dark. Night had fallen early, covering the sky with a blanket of ominous dark clouds. They had hovered mischievously all afternoon until early evening when they delivered their held back fury. Immediately torrents of raindrops cascaded down in heavy sheets; the outburst sent everyone scrambling to the nearest safe haven to wait for the angry waters to relent. Lightening flashed momentarily as thunder rolled across the sky; only heightening the ferocity of the storm. The tempest charged through the city, never letting up on it's assault. Lightening glared across the sky once more as thunder sounded in retaliation. The endless downpour of rain struck homes and trees, the little rivers continuously flowing downwards to connect with the surged ground.
And on this night we find a group of young adolescents trapped inside due to the storm. Lights are on within the house; the window was emitting white-yellow rays into the inky blackness. They are gathered in the neat living room patiently loitering around for the storm to break. The nine mostly placed themselves around the rectangular coffee table.
A boy with light brown hair and almond eyes sat in a folding chair at the end of the table. He had the word Jr on his forehead and a sky blue pacifier in his mouth. He talked softly; the pacifier interfering slightly with his speech, and tried to act cool and nonchalant.
On the couch to his left sat a peppy, overly cheerful girl with blue hair tied up into a high ponytail. She had original brightly sparkling amethyst eyes and was constantly smiling. She struck up a conversation to help lighten things up.
Next to the bubbly girl was a boy with jet-black hair combed back and secured by liberal amounts of gel. His warm chocolate eyes shone with amusement and playfulness. Ha added his unwelcome thoughts to the conversation, earning him a hard slap across the face by the blue haired girl and the girl sitting on his other side.
"Geez Botan!" he addressed the blue haired girl, "That wasn't for you! It was for Kei-"
"Yusuke you jerk!" A dark brown haired and red eyed girl in a blue school uniform screeched, then SLAP! Yusuke now had three handprints across his face.
"Man Keiko! You hit harder than most demons!" Yusuke complained holding the cheek that had been smacked. Keiko only glared.
On the loveseat next to Keiko's left sat a petite girl wearing a soft, ice blue kimono. Her hair was the same soft blue, with maybe just a tint if mint green, and she had bright ruby red eyes. She watched as Botan and Keiko resumed beating Yusuke mercilessly after more inappropriate comments while making sure he didn't escape over the coffee table.
"Kuwabara! A little help will ya!" Yusuke called, while trying to defend himself.
The petite girl looked over to the boy sharing the couch with her. He was laughing stupidly as he watched Yusuke's beating.
"Kazuma?" she asked softly and naively, "Won't Yusuke need your help?"
"Hahahaha! Urameshi's getting his butt whipped by a bunch of girls! This is priceless!" The orange haired, horse faced (Yes, I'm sorry, his face really reminds me of a horse's) Kazuma Kuwabara replied until the older girl on his left started kicking the cr*p (Oh! Bad language! Couldn't help myself, besides it fits nicely. I promise that's the only one. :P) out of him.
"Like you should talk little bro. You're always getting your butt kicked," a tall brown haired, brown-eyed teenager said semi-furiously.
"Ah! Stop! Okay! Shizuru-stop-hitting-me!" Kuwabara whimpered. So she being the loving sister that she is (note the sarcasm) Shizuru continued to kill him for whining.
The first boy raised his voice slightly, "Botan, Keiko, Shizuru, I would like it if my spirit detectives were still living thank you."
"Oh, sorry Koenma sir," Botan apologized. The three stopped from their torture and spared Yusuke and Kuwabara-for now. Shizuru sat back in the folding chair while Kuwabara shrank away from her, closer to the petite girl.
"Yukina my love, can you please use your healing powers to heal all my booboos?" he asked pathetically. Yukina was about to answer when Shizuru punched him upside the head.
In-between Shizuru and Koenma sat another boy in a folding chair. Sitting elegantly, and quietly watching the havoc unfold in his living room, he spoke optimistically, trying to dissolve the tension building up, "Since the storm shows no sign of letting up, we'll be staying here for a while. Why don't we turn this situation into something fun? How about a party?" His voice was melodious, having a tone that showed intelligence and maturity.
Immediately the tension evaporated as everyone became animated and excited. "That's a great idea!" Botan chirped.
"Yeah! This'll be fun!" Kuwabara yelled.
"Hey Kurama?" Yusuke asked.
Deep emerald eyes turned to him. "Yes Yusuke?" he asked politely.
"Do you have anything to eat?" as he said so Yusuke's stomach growled. Putting a hand to the back of his head he laughed weakly.
Kurama smiled slightly and answered, "Of course Yusuke." He stood up and said, "I'll get some refreshments. There are games in the basement and you are welcome to turn on the radio if you like." He then exited the room and went to the kitchen.
Yusuke and Kuwabara got up and bolted down to the basement and Keiko turned on the radio. The two returned with their arms laden with games. Instantly they started to fight over what they would play first. More of the seven joined in and Yukina just watched as the others squabbled. Across the room a smaller boy say on the window ledge with one leg drawn up to his chest, held in place by his arms and his foot resting lightly on the sill. His other leg dangled down. He wore all black except for a white scarf around his neck and a white bandanna. He had midnight black hair that was spiked up with a white starburst, and deep red eyes like Yukina, but cold, and his facial features were hardened. He looked on as the others quarreled with one another.
Hn. Bakas. He thought and turned, disgusted, to look out the window. As ever the tempest ruthlessly and maliciously continued. He felt a connection to the storm; it was how he felt right now. Cold. Uncaring. Unforgiving. Harsh. He only wished that it would let up so he wouldn't have to be trapped with the idiots. (bakas! That's such a fun word! ()
Kurama came back in with some chips, pretzels, fruit, and just for Yusuke, a cup of ramen. He also brought out a pitcher of iced tea and poured for his guests.
After everyone was content, the redhead mover over to the smaller boy sitting on the windowpane. "Hiei?" he asked softly. A moment after he received no response Kurama tried again. "Hiei? I brought you some iced tea?"
Hiei turned around and took the glass without a word, then continued to scowl out the window. Kurama's eyes began to cloud with worry. Before he could open his mouth to ask if Hiei was all right the boy cut in.
"I'm fine, fox," Hiei said, sounding slightly irritated.
Kurama sighed inaudibly and rejoined the others, who were trying to teach Keiko and Yukina how to play poker.
"Hey let's make this interesting," Yusuke began, "We should play strip poker!" SLAP! WHACK! CRACK! Shizuru, Botan, and Keiko all clobbered Yusuke and Yukina sat innocently looking confused.
The night progressed and began to slip into early morning. The eight played various games that brought forth much laughter and some new lumps on the head to Kuwabara and Yusuke. Hiei continued to glare out through the glass and refused to join the others no matter how many times they asked him.
A song then came on the radio and as it played a certain antisocial person named Hiei found himself in deep thought.
The DJ's voice said, "All right! And now for some new music! It's called "A Song For the Lonely." Soft slow music appeared. The words were sung soft and slow like the music but held a sadness to it. (Just so you know, in every 4th line the word 'song' and each syllable in 'lonely' are held out slightly. And as for the comments in-between the song can be seen as a narration or as Hiei's thoughts –take your pick!)
"A look with sad eyes,
a person with no one to love,
no one to hold,
this is a song for the lonely."
Yes, that was true. No one loved him or wanted to be around him. Not that he wanted anyone's company. Emotions are worthless, they make you weak. He had no one and knew that he was truly alone.
"People who are afraid,
don't know how to be happy,
always running away from their light,
this is a song for the lonely."
He was the Forbidden Child, he was never supposed to be here. He continues to shame the word with his presence; he didn't deserve happiness. He was cast away, into the darkness, no light shines on his world. –He deserved his world of pain.
"Emotions locked up inside,
tries their best to hide from the world,
don't want to hurt anymore,
this is song for the lonely."
He had suffered a lot in the time that he had lived. The fierce world in which he was raised and resided, until currently, had been cold, dark, and cruel. There you lived in pain, you ate in pain, slept in pain, walked in pain, everything was pain, and fear. His past was not something he cared to think about. Raised by bandits (Really? I don't know, evidence points that way.) and assassins (see last comment.) there was no love. Everything he knew or felt was locked up inside. Rage, Anger, Determination, Bloodlust, Scorn, HATE! That's all he knew and he tried hard to keep all those negative feelings boiling inside him locked up tight.
"Lived in a cold world of hate and pain,
had to be strong and stand tall,
show no one their weaknesses,
this is a song for the lonely."
The world was a sinister place and nothing would ever change that. Only the strong survive and the weak perish. (I know this is probably from something but I don't know what it is but I can assure you I don't own it either.) –who cared about them? The most cutthroat and vile of them all, alone, were allowed to survive. Everything else didn't matter. Stronger- always getting stronger, that was the only goal, the only rule in which to live. The strong eradicated the week- they didn't deserve to live anyway for exposing what could bring them down. He would never be so stupid as to show anyone his weak po- He HAD NO weak point. That is why he has survived so long.
"Shut out every concerned voice,
refused every helping hand,
looked away from all worried eyes,
this is a song for the lonely."
He allowed no one to be near him. No one? NO ONE. Companionship –pheh! No one would ever care about someone like him, but then why do they look at him like that? Why do they act that-that way? He never understood and chose to look away, to ignore, block them out. Even through all that they still wanted to hel- NO! He didn't need any help; he needed nothing from no one. But they seemed to give him –something- anyway, what was it? He didn't know. He only needed to be alone, but did he want to?
"Can't admit that feeling's nice,
that strange feeling that comes when they smile,
but will never make it known,
this is a song for the lonely."
They had been together all night, playing games, laughing, even singing in merriment. I t was more pleasant to the ear to hear their laughter hang joyfully light upon the air instead of the usual screams that filled everything with fear and dread. And what was it that happened to him when he saw them happy? Every time they so much as smiled a tiny little pull in his heart shifted upwards. Heart? He didn't have a heart. But even if he did –which he constantly told himself he didn't- he certainly wouldn't let them see that they had an effect on him.
"This is the only way he knows,
to protect these people that are friends,
what are friends?
This is a song for the lonely."
He distanced himself from everyone, he didn't need them, so why would he protect them? Friends? He didn't know the meaning of the word, it held no worth for anyone like him. Hm. Friend. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~Kurama is explaining what a friend is~*~*~*~*~*
"A friend is always by your side, through whatever circumstances they will always support you, guide you, and just be there to help you even if you don't even realize it. Nothing can break the special bond that friends have and it lasts forever. I remember a quote I heard once. 'A friend is a person who knows the song to your soul, and sings it back to you when you have forgotten the words.' Does that answer your question?" he finished with a slight chuckle. (That's my senior quote in the yearbook so I own that at least.)
"Hn, friendship, what a pitiful and worthless idea." ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~end flashback~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ or was it? He didn't know anymore, but confused as he may have become he remained impassive.
"Head and heart are filled with pain,
filled with confusion and cold exteriors,
what was happening?
This is a song for the lonely."
His thinking all leaded in one direction. Pain, loneliness, confusion, and how to cover it all up. (I think this is getting kinda redundant. I might have lost where I was going with this b/c I kept on getting interrupted. Grr.) But something –odd- was happening. And it wasn't just now but it had started a long time ago and gradually grew. What was going on?
Time has passed,
He might understand,
Even though he acts the same,
This is a song for the lonely."
Yes. Much time has passed since everything had started, started without him –or anyone else- even noticing. They all had changed and now he could understand. "Now that the song is sung, "Hiei?" a melodious voice called softly.
know that, He turned to look at who had called his name.
you are not alone, "Hiei? You look so lonely over there by yourself, please, come join us."
Hiei continued to look at Kurama and remembered: "A friend is always by your side, through whatever circumstances they will always support you, guide you, and just be there to help you even if you don't even realize it. Nothing can break the special bond that friends have and it lasts forever." So these were his friends? The word seemed so strange but it just felt so right. Another pull on his heart and it didn't feel strange. The storm, too, had changed, instantly stopping and the clouds cleared away to let sunshine through.
He answered with his trademark 'Hn' but came over and sat with the rest anyway. He truly wasn't alone-
-not anymore."