Chapter 1: Downhill then Back Up again

It was dark, but it was warm. I tried to move, but everything was too sore. Then I smelled smoke. That was when I could hear everything again. Crackling, wood burning, the structure collapsing. My eyes snapped open. It was dark with an ember glow far above. Smoke was too far above the well for me to breath.

Adrenaline shot through my system, but I had nowhere to go and didn't have anything to do. I was trapped. I could do nothing but wait for my death or my rescue. I heard sirens and powerful water hoses shouting against the fire. I screamed when one of the support beams collapsed over the well. Embers and ashes rained down from above. I can see the greedy fingers of the fire caress the well's ancient and dry wood, reaching down for me in its hunger for fuel. I hear muffled shouts of men. I screamed once more. More embers rained when the well's rim splintered and burned under the weight and hungry licking flames. I screamed even louder.

A pink bubble appeared around me. The air purified. My burns healed slightly. I heard the protesting hiss of the fire as it was shouted at with water. The beam was blasted off the well. The burning well bits fell into the well on top of my bubble of protection. The pressure was getting too great for the bubble for I can see the splintering cracks above me in fear and anticipation. It popped and shattered when the first man looked down. The burning embers seared my back and side. The stench of burning flesh and hair filled my nostril until I was drowned in darkness.

The next time I woke up, I was in the sterile room of the hospital. The bright white walls and sheets of my bedding blinded me after so much darkness. I wanted to move, to see my family, but searing pain and the nonstop of beeping kept me in my bed. Nurses and doctors rushed in and held me down. I struggled against their hold, against the pain.

"Where are they," I shouted hoarsely over and over. I shouted. I screamed! I cried dried tears. I resisted until darkness seeped through my vision again.

The next time I woke, everything was bound. I roamed the room with blank eyes. I was connected to machines. My arms, legs, torso, and head were bound to my bed. My mouth felt like cotton. My tongue felt like sandpaper. My throat was parched. I coughed up dusted and tried to move to no avail as I would expect.

A nurse entered with a board and a cup of water with a straw in it. She gave me a pitying look. I could only stare at her blankly. The straw was placed to my mouth, and the cup emptied in one minute. I moved my tongue it didn't feel as bad as it was. Then the nurse asked me routine questions. I answered.

Two days later, my bounds were removed, but I did not get up. The day after, they told what had become of my family. My brother and his friends were playing and observing small fireworks in the yard for it was summer already. Mama and grandpa were in the house relaxing. Two fireworks set off two fires. One set fire to the tree that grew next to my window, the other set fire to the well house. My brother went missing when he ran for cover. Mama and grandpa weren't able to get out of house because of the fast moving fire. The authorities didn't know what I was doing in the well house, so I gave them a believable lie.

"I wanted to clean up the well house and straighten it up a bit from the inside. It was so old and dusty. I must have tripped and fell in the well and hit my head along the fall."

They believed me. It was four whole weeks later that I was fully healed and let out with a debt to the hospital. They were amazed at how fast I healed but let it go soon afterwards since it fit the bare minimum of healing time. I walked out of the hospital in donated clothes. My hair only now reached just to my ears. My possessions were burned along with the house and the well. My clothes I was brought in were burned beyond repair so they burned the rest of it. None of my "friends" had come to visit. They had only sent get well cards with distant affections from a strained friendship.

My hand touched my tender back. I will have scars since the burn was set in too deeply. The pain will be deep in my muscle memory. I wandered until I had taken a job and a cheap/crappy apartment to live in until I paid my debt.

It took me a year to do so with my minimum wage job(s). I was now 17 years old. My hair had grown a bit but I had it cropped long but stylish, I guess you can say that I can look like a boy if I put on the right clothing. With my meager belongings, I left Tokyo and all the bad memories behind. The shrine I lived in was completely burned down. Only the Goshinboku survived the flames greedy fingers with only a few scorch marks. I went by bus until I came to a quant town. I had already sent a letter to the local high school within the town, and I had gotten an acceptance letter soon enough. It was dark already, and I was lost in a park. I placed down my duffle bag and plopped down beside it to think of my options. The chilly autumn wind breezed by my large jacket, t-shirt, and loose jeans.

Suddenly, I hear a dog barking viciously and a man squealing in fright. I trotted over to the sounds to see a willowy man up in a tree with a small dog barking up at him. With a wave of my hand, the dog scurried away. When the man saw that the ground was clear from any threat of dogs, he slowly and shakily crawled down the tree. He huddled against the base of the tree.

"Are you alright?"

"Thank you very much, I am also sorry. I can't handle dogs. It's been a while since I came back to this town."

He looked up at me with a grateful smile and a few tears running down his face. I froze, not knowing what to do to comfort a stranger, a stranger that is a man at that.

"To think that I got cornered by a dog as soon as I got here," he chuckled, "Looks like I'm not welcomed by the local people here. Are you a local person here?"

I didn't think I should have answered him since he was a stranger to the town as well as to me, but I felt his powerful aura. He was kind and good. I smiled sadly.

"No, I just got off the bus coming here. I don't have a home anymore."

We walked back to the bench were I left my bag to sit down and chat. I told him my abbreviated story of how I lost my home in Tokyo, but he still cried for me. Then he went on how he left his home and wondered out loud how his family was doing.

"But it's alright, isn't it? You still have a home to go to. It must be nice. To have a home to return to is fortunate."

I looked past my scenery and into my memories. My home in the past is closed off forever. My home in the present was taken away from me by some little firecrackers. I had nowhere to go unless I make it on my own somehow. I blinked out of the fog of memories when the man stood up to stand in front of me.

"In that case, I'll give you my home."

I blinked in a sudden daze at his declaration.

"I can't leave my home empty forever. Besides, if you live there, I'll feel relieved of my burden. And most importantly, you're so much more suitable to be the master off that 'house' than me."

I felt his gentle hand brush away my bangs to place a soft kiss on my forehead. I was a space cadet by now as to how lost I was in what he was saying and doing. He handed me a piece of paper. I absent mindedly took it as I stared at him as he walked away.

"Go to the place written in this memo. Just tell them that you came as Mikage told you to. I'm sure that everyone will welcome you as the new master."

I wasn't sure as to what he meant by being the new master to his house, but I followed his memo anyway. I had nowhere else to go.

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I know this seems awfully familiar to another story, but I am hoping that the original author will finally notice that I had sent him/her a PM about it. And there will be a noticeable difference even tho I will be using his/her story as a somewhat guide line.

Hope you guys like it anyhow, please review your thoughts!