Thunder in the Distance
A +Anima Fanfic
By Saitou Miharu
Senri's head throbbed. The more he hid, the worse it got, and as he crawled through the darkness of a moonless night, his ears caught the sound of footsteps behind him. Instinctively, Senri's arm pulsed and burned, and as it grew thicker, fur began to cover his wrist, and then the rest of his arm, slowly traveling upward. Once the transformation was complete, the seventeen-year-old boy whirled completely around.
No one was there.
Figuring he was simply being paranoid, Senri continued his walk through darkness. He allowed his bear's arm to change back, but as the tips of his claws faded away, a scream pierced the air: Nana's scream.
The +Anima charged forward, determined to find his friend. He could hear the faint rattling of clanging metal: Cooro's belt buckle. The smell of blood tainted the air, and when Senri inhaled, he coughed and gagged on the horrible stench.
A tingling sensation traveled up Senri's spine as he ran. He automatically looked down at his hands: they were smaller,almost as if--
No. He refused to relive the nightmare. It couldn't possibly be...
But it was. Senri felt himself growing smaller, and soon he was a small child again, tearing through the forest of uncertainty in his heart.
He stumbled over his small feet and ended up sprawled out on the floor, where he lay for what seemed to be hours. Or seconds. He couldn't tell which; his chest ached too much for him to think about it. He lifted his hand and placed it just above his heart, where he counted the heartbeats, trying to mark the passage of time.
One... Two... Three...
A voice joined his silent chanting: "Senri."
Four... Five... Six...
"Senri. I'm here to help you. Please get up."
Seven... Eight... Nine...
The young boy slowly raised his head, removing his hand from his chest. The person before him, smiling as if he was very happy, opened his dark eyes and whispered, "Senri."
"Cooro...?" Senri found himself murmuring. He took the hand the boy offered him, and allowed him to pull him to his feet. "Where... are Nana and Husky?"
"Nana and Husky..." Cooro repeated. His eyes fell, and his dark hair covered them. But he soon looked up, his brown eyes having turned into a blazing red, and said, "They're resting. Let's join them, Senri." He repeated this several times as he stalked toward Senri.
In a flash of anger, Senri's arm transformed, and he lashed out at Cooro wildly. The Crow didn't even attempt to dodge the attack; Senri's claws slashed across his chest.
Meanwhile, Senri looked on with fear, horrified at what he'd just done. As soon as he removed his hand, Cooro fell backward, and landed on his back, an eerie smile stretched across his face. Blood immediately sprayed Senri, and mingled with the tears on his cheeks.
I killed him...
The +Anima's arm changed back as he ran, and soon the wind had blown the tears from his face. He turned around almost automatically, and watched as the last tear flew away with the darkness.
"I'm still here, Senri."
Upon turning back around, Senri found himself face-to-face with Cooro, who was floating a good foot from the ground. His dark wings framed him even in darkness as he hovered toward Senri.
"Why did you kill me, Senri? Why?!"
Senri took a nervous step backward and found himself stumbling. He fell to his back.
"Why, Senri?! I thought we were friends!!"
"You're not Cooro!" Senri shouted from the ground. "You're a monster!"
"No, Senri..." The boy's lips curved into another eerie smile as he whispered enchantingly, "You are..."
"Senri? Senri, what's wrong? Wake up!"
The +Anima's eyes fluttered open. He looked around; Cooro, Senri and Nana surrounded him, each with concern in their eyes. "Wake up, Senri!" Cooro repeated.
"Idiot. He's already awake." Husky shifted his gaze to Senri and asked, "Are you alright, Senri? You just started thrashing about."
"Did you have a bad dream?" Nana asked with obvious worry. "Your face has gone pale."
Slowly, the seventeen-year-old Bear shook his head. "I'm okay." he murmured.
"That's a relief." Husky sighed. "I don't know about the rest of you, but I'm going to bed. We've gotta get up early tomorrow of we want to make it to Sakura Town in time for the festival."
Cooro's mouth stretched wide, and he yawned. "Yeah, I'm tired." He whirled around to face Senri, still sitting on the forest floor, and closed his eyes. "Good night, Senri."
The Bear felt his face going red-- Cooro... He would never hurt me. How could I think that...?
And yet, somehow, Senri had trouble sleeping that night. He decided it was just the hollow feeling he had in his chest, and tried not to think about it anymore, but ended up tossing and turning all night. He hadn't caught a wink of sleep even by the time the four set off in the morning. "Oh well..." he murmured aloud.
"Hey, Senri!" Cooro called out. "Let's go!"
They reached the town six hours later, just after ten o'clock. Since the festival started right at noon, the children agreed to separate and explore the town. But just as Senri began to walk away, he felt a hand on his shoulder. A chill traveled up his spine. "Do you mind if I come with you?" Cooro asked.
The Bear shook his head slowly.
"Great!" The Crow smiled and took his hand. "What shall we look at first?"
The two +Anima boys wandered the streets, hand in hand, Cooro happily looking up at the blooming cherry blossoms, and Senri glancing downward, at his feet. No one spoke for a while, until finally Cooro said, "I love this town. There's so much going on!" He smiled and asked, "What do you like about Sakura Town, Senri?"
Senri's face gently colored; he looked away. As he did, a cry for help pierced the already-busy air. A chill traveled up his spine: It's not Nana, he told himself. But his worry only increased as he tore through the alleys, Cooro running just behind him.
Soon the two +Anima boys had found the source of the scream; a little blond-haired boy was lying beneath a tree, whimpering as tears streamed down his face. Several people had gathered around him, whispering things like, "Whose kid is this?" and "Where is his home?"
Senri pushed gently through the crowd and knelt beside the boy. His forget-me-not blue eyes opened; he stared at the Bear with worry. "Please..." he whispered very softly. "Don't let them take me home."
"Hey, is this your kid?" someone asked. Senri turned; the man behind him added, "Oh, you're just a kid yourself."
Before Senri could say anything, Cooro said pleadingly, "This is our little brother. We need to take him home before our mother gets mad." His brown eyes widened as he stared at the man.
The man glanced at the boy, then at Senri, and finally at Cooro. The three boys looked nothing alike, but the man didn't say anything about it. "Oh, okay." he told Cooro. "Be sure to take him to a doctor, though, his arm could be broken from falling from the tree."
"Yes sir." Cooro replied. Senri picked the blond-haired boy up and put him on his shoulders; he was just small enough to carry around like that.
Once they were out of ear-shot of the people, Cooro asked the boy, "Who are you?"
"My name is Pierre," said the boy, "And I am never going home again."
"Are you a runaway?"
"Yeah. What about you two?" Pierre glanced at Cooro with obvious disdain.
"No, we don't have any family." Cooro answered. He brightened when he added happily, "We're +Anima! I'm a crow, and Senri here is a bear!"
"Wow!" Pierre looked at the two boys with new-found appreciation. "So you can fly, huh? Could you fly me far away from here? I'm never going back home, and I don't want to be caught. That's why I couldn't let the man back there figure out who I am."
"First we need to take you to a doctor. You could've broken your arm."
"Okay." Pierre sighed heavily. "But let's make it quick."
"You did what?!" Husky shouted. His eyes flared like a blue fire. "So you're telling me you lied to some guy for this kid, paid a doctor to check his arm, and now you want to take him with us? Are you out of your minds?!"
Pierre winced at the harsh words; Senri could help feeling sorry for the boy.
"Husky, listen." Cooro begged. "He had nowhere to go--"
"He did have somewhere to go, and he still does." Husky interrupted. "Send him back, we have better things to do than baby-sit some kid."
"Please!" Pierre whined. His blue eyes spilled over with tears. "I can't go home!" His voice cut off abruptly in a little sob, and the sob lingered in the air as silence overtook the children.
Finally the Fish,who had been half-convinced already by Nana and Cooro's pleading eyes, slapped a hand to his forehead and said, "Fine. But the kid leaves as soon as he finds a suitable place to go, got it? And we can't afford to spend our money on anything but the essentials now."
Pierre hugged Husky, who promptly shoved the boy away.
It'd been a few days since Pierre had joined them, and already they were getting used to it. Pierre was very useful; he was always ready to help gather firewood or take a job to earn money. And while it didn't seem that he was very good at anything in particular, he was determined, and that alone allowed him to do more than an average person could.
They reached a beach after four days, and since it was night already, stopped to make camp. After eating some fish Husky caught, the five children fell asleep on the sand.
Senri awoke hours later to thunder in the distance. He turned his head; rain whipped at his gray hair. Silently, he stood, only to have something slap him across the face. He removed whatever it was from his cheek; it was a rather large leaf. The Bear knelt by Husky and tried to wake him.
Thunder crackled again, and when Senri looked at the horizon ahead, he could see a lone figure on the shore. He gave up trying to wake his friend and crossed the shifting sands to where the boy stood looking at the stormy waters.
"Pierre...?" Senri murmured. The boy turned; it was Pierre. "What are you doing...?"
"I've decided, Senri. I'm a burden to the group, even I can tell that, so I want Cooro to take me away." He raised a hand to chest-level and gestured gently; Cooro stepped out of the darkness.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
"Ready." Pierre replied.
Cooro's wings sprouted from his back, and he took the smaller boy in his arms. As his wings began to flap, Senri came out of his momentary trance and shouted, "Cooro, no...!"
But it was too late. Cooro screamed in surprise as the wind picked him up and rain beat suddenly harder on his cheeks. Husky came from behind Senri, Nana not far behind. "What's going on?" the Bat asked.
Without answering her, Senri ran toward a large rock a few yards away, and managed to leap to the top of it in the wind. Then, with a burst of strength, he pushed off from the rock and launched himself into the air.
For a moment he was lost in the storm, rain beating against his face, the wind tossing his hair wildly. But he soon regained his composure and set about his task: saving Cooro and Pierre. It took only a second to wrap his arms around them, and once he had, his only remaining task was reaching the ground again. He allowed his right arm to transform as he fought against the wind and rain.
Then, rather suddenly, Senri was soaking wet. He opened his eyes to see darkness-- they were underwater.
Pierre and Cooro stopped moving-- maybe they were unconscious. Struggling to swim with two children in his arms, the Bear could feel himself gradually sinking, then finally, the last of his energy spent, falling to the bottom of the ocean. The water was fairly deep, since there was a drop-off nearby. Senri could feel a burning sensation in his lungs as he tried to hold his breath.
Gasp-- Senri breathed in solid air. Realizing he was on land again, he inhaled briefly, then coughed water onto the sand. When he'd finally gotten enough air to speak, he cried out, "Cooro! Pierre!"
"Open your eyes, stupid. They're right here."
Senri did as he had been told. For a moment everything within his vision was bleary, but things quickly snapped into focus. Husky, Nana, Cooro, and Pierre were knelt beside him, their eyes worried.
"Hey, Senri, are you awake?" Cooro asked. Husky slapped him upside the head.
The Bear nodded, then smiled. Pierre and Cooro were fine, and that's what was important. He glanced at the sky-- it was daytime again, and the storm had subsided. "What happened?" he whispered.
"Pierre turned into a +Anima." Nana contributed. "Isn't that right, Pierre?"
"Yeah." the boy said. "A fish, like Husky. It was hard, carrying you and Cooro to the surface-- Cooro is heavier than he looks-- but I'm so glad I did it. And... I've been thinking..." Pierre's blue eyes bubbled over with tears. "I want to go home, Senri..."
Senri smiled, then got up. They spent the next four days getting back to Pierre's village. The goodbye was tearful, but it was worth it-- Pierre was home, and now he wouldn't be in danger of being hurt again. Senri waved at the boy as turned to walk away.
"You know, Pierre's lucky." Cooro remarked as they walked along the dirt road. "He's a +Anima and has a family anyway. What is it about us that everyone hates, anyway?"
"You're impulsive." Husky said. "Senri's too quiet, and Nana's a girl."
"And there's something wrong with that?" Nana fumed.
There was silence a moment before Senri laughed. Cooro looked up at him in awe-- "Senri, was that you?"
"No way." Husky said, just as surprised. "There's no way."
"It must have been... a bird?" Nana added.
The Bear smiled to himself and allowed them to continue debating-- after all, some things are best left unsaid.
Thanks for reading. Please add a comment. --Saitou