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Their Eyes Watched Him
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"Move outta the way, small fry," Gi Aruyu growled, swiping a hand towards the small purple haired kid in front of him. He was trying to get the work for the day, stocking groceries, like any good teen should for money, and this pest was in his way, only staring up at him in total shock.
"It's…it's you…" the kid whispered. She didn't look like she could have been more than 11.
"Who's me? You heard of me? Did I beat up your brother or something?"
The kid just stood there, her face paling slightly as she looked up at him.
"What do you remember?" she whispered, her voice shaking.
"Remember? I don't remember having to slug someone with stupid hair like yours. How much hair dye did you have to beg your mommy for to get it that color?" Aruyu smirked. The girl frowned, and took her violet hair in her hands like it were a delicate toy, a doll perhaps.
"This is natural, thank you very much. Now answer my question!"
"I'll remember having to explain why someone's precious little baby is in the hospital if you don't get out of my way and get back to your mother within the next few seconds."
The girl set her mouth in a firm line, raised a fist, and with a bit of leverage, slugged Aruyu right in the stomach. The blond was sent flying a few feet back into a pair of metal trash cans.
"You haven't changed. All this time, and you're the same as you were then!"
With the offending hand still clenched tight, she took off running. Aruyu rubbed his stomach where her fist had connected with him.
"Where'd that little bitch learn to hit like that?" he grumbled, pulling himself up. Leaving the trash cans lying on the ground, he began to walk towards work again, clutching his painful, offended digestive organ. He failed to see the stranger standing in the darkness.
"He remembers nothing, Nuriko…nothing, yet…we'll make sure he learns…"
Careful what you do
Someone's on to you
Careful what you do
"Gi Aruyu…" a voice said smugly behind him as he pushed out a pile of boxes full of canned goods, ready for stocking. Aruyu blinked and turned. A woman stood behind him, a girl about his age, one hand on her hip. Her lips showed the same smugness her voice had as she smiled. "It's been a while."
Aruyu raised an eyebrow.
"Who the hell are you?" he muttered, eyes glancing at the loop of maroon hair that must have used two cans of hairspray to make it stay in the air, a perfect circle with a red ribbon and more hair trailing from it. The girl didn't answer.
"You have blood on your hands, you know, Aruyu," she said calmly. This time, Aruyu's blink was a clueless one. He glanced down at his hands, spotless yet still smelling slightly ripe after washing the garbage off.
"What are you talking about? I'm not cut anywhere. I'd know."
"The blood of other people, Aruyu. Don't you know what you are?" she grinned coyly. Obviously she was enjoying her game.
"…You're mad. I'm myself, Gi Aruyu, a teenager just trying to waste time until school gets out, and then I can go into the army."
The girl's smile softened as she heard this. Thinking she was done, Aruyu turned and went back to pushing the boxes towards aisle seven. The girl suddenly began to laugh, a soft chuckle, but enough for him to hear. He stopped again.
"You haven't changed one bit… the army! I should have expected no less from you…"
Aruyu groaned, feeling anger welling inside of him.
"What the hell is up with everyone knowing me today! Two people I've never seen before in my life saying I haven't changed! Who the hell are you and what the hell do you want?!"
The girl smiled diabolically, a glint in her eyes.
"You've seen us before, but not in this life…Nakago-sama."
The last word she said quietly, yet somehow, the strange, unfamiliar name ran over Aruyu as if the very word was ice. He went rigid with the coldness.
"Strikes a chord, doesn't it? The rest of us remember. We're going to make you remember too. We're going to make you regret everything you did."
And with that, the girl turned and walked away, leaving Aruyu standing there, alone and lost in his own mind.
Careful what you say
Cause you're on display
Every night and every day
The sun had set before Aruyu left for home. Only the street lamps lit the empty streets of the town. An occasional car drove by, a cat growled in an alley, the normal sounds and sights of the night. Aruyu always enjoyed these times when there was no one to get in his way, no one to challenge him to a fight, no one to remind him to do his homework. Silence was his heaven. At home, his parents argued constantly, on the verge of divorce, and his friends did nothing but tempt him into hating yet another person every time he was with them. They were the only ones he liked, yet even then, on the nights he walked home, he was glad they weren't there.
"Well, well. Aren't you a hotshot? Walking these streets alone at night…it's not the wisest thing to do," another voice, this one male, whispered behind him. Aruyu whirled around, hands balling into fists, ready for a fight. He could defend himself and everyone he knew, like or hate, knew it. There was no one there.
"Who's there?!" he challenged.
"You expect me to show myself to you?" the person was now behind him again. Aruyu jumped slightly, a shiver running up his back. He spun again to see only darkness.
"Only cowards hide themselves!" his voice wasn't as strong as it had been at first.
"Then I am a coward. I'll not show who I am…not to you. Not after the last time we met."
The voice was strange, not quite human. It had a slight growl to each word spoken.
"Y-You're a drunk, I'll bet. Yeah, you're drunk, that's it. I don't talk to drunks."
"I am not drunk, Nakago! Nor am I as blind as I was when you killed me!"
Aruyu felt as if he had just been dropped into a pit filled with cold water. He froze in his steps. That girl, what had she said? He had blood on his hands. Had he killed someone while he was drinking with his friends? He-he was talking with a ghost! No…no, impossible. Some Nakago person had done it.
"You-you're insane! This whole damn world has lost it! I don't know who the hell this Nakago person is, but I'm not him!" Aruyu shouted, preparing to run. The man growled, a wolf-like sound, and the shadows in front of him began to move.
"How dare you…" the man growled as he emerged. A cloak covered a hunched over body, and cold yellow eyes glowed under it's hood. "How dare you not remember…we all are cursed to. We relive those days in our minds every night, and you go on living life with no idea what you did to us…"
Aruyu trembled. Every breath shuddered in his lungs. For once in his life, pure terror swarmed inside him. The man raised his head into the light. His face was dark, surrounded by shaggy hair, and the cold yellow eyes glared, piercing Aruyu's very mind.
"I'll make you remember, I'll make you pay for what you did to me, Nakago!"
With a roar, the man pounced, a mouth of jagged teeth ready for tearing through flesh revealed. Aruyu had a moment to cry out before the full weight of the stranger forced him onto the ground. Aruyu's head hit the pavement, and his world went black tinged with thoughts of death…
Somebody's hiding in the great unknown
And every time you think that you're alone
Somebody's eyes are watching
Somebody's eyes are seeing you come and go
Somebody's out there, waiting for the show
You've got no disguise
From somebody's eyes
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You know what, folks? I'm gonna do a weird little thing and say….TWO CHAPTER SONGFIC THINGY!! Yes, this is going to be two chapters. Why? Because I think this is a good place for a cliffhanger and I can never resist a cliffhanger =D
The song is Somebody's Eyes, from the musical Footloose. It's only half done though, because it's gonna be a two part songfic! Fun stuff, fun stuff…disclaimer in bio under my name.
Oh, yeah, I KNOW NURIKO IS A MAN! He's male in this, but I was doing it from the way Aruyu saw it so he thought Nuri was female. Thank you. Anyone caught complaining about this in reviews will be strung up by their toenails onto a ceiling fan and beaten into unconsciousness with…an organic carrot.
And organic carrots can hurt.
~TA Maxwell~